Longbottom Rising
by MoodyJenny86
Summary: Neville Longbottom has but one ultimate battle he must prevail in before he can help Harry in the fight against Voldemort- the one against himself. Full Summary inside! Warning: Eating Disorder!
1. New Beginnings

_**Longbottom Rising**_

**Summary:** The pressure is continuing to mount on poor Neville Longbottom as he enters his final year at Hogwarts. No longer a child, Neville is caught lingering in between the ending stages of adolescence and the beginning of his pending manhood. Will this young wizard who was once thought to be a squib be able to once and for all prove his worth to society and gain the respect and recognition as not only a true Gryffindor but a proper wizard? Or will he be pulled under by the weight of his troubles? In order for Neville to accompany Harry in the fight against Voldemort, he has but one ultimate battle he must prevail in first- the one against himself…

**Warning:** This story will contain adult language, adult content, violence and sensitive subject matter. **IF YOU ARE EASILY TRIGGERED** you may not want to continue reading. Please, read at your own risk! You have been warned…

**Author's Note:** This is an AU fic which means that there are going to be some major characters who don't exist in J.K.'s world and also Dumbledore and Sirius among many other characters are still alive. I began writing this before _Deathly Hallows_ came out so this is going to be pretty different from actual canon.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

------

**Chapter One****:** New Beginnings

Neville Longbottom sighed and pushed his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose with his index finger. Wearing glasses had been quite an adjustment for Neville.

A couple of the professors last year suspected Neville might have had a problem with his vision in which Madame Pomfrey later confirmed that he needed further consultation in regards to his eyesight, the end result_ glasses_.

And he didn't even get to pick them out, his Gran did and she managed to pick out the most ancient looking pair in the shop. They were thick, black and not to mention a bit too large for his face. When Neville tried to protest his Gran told him they made him look _sophisticated _and then went on about how his father had once worn a similar pair.

As if Neville wasn't enough of a geek already, these glasses were the icing on the cake.

The majority of his fellow Gryffindors had yet to see him or the newest addition to his face. He wondered what they would say when they saw him or if they would even notice.

Neville's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the Sorting Hat, which had burst into its painfully loud and off-key opening song.

_Quite some time ago, o'er a millennium in fact,_

_Four of the greatest wizards and witches began deliberating with certain tact,_

_An idea to establish the finest magical learning institution,_

_Together we can carry on a whole new revolution,_

_One that the wizarding world has never before seen,_

_But in order to do that, we must remain a team._

_Hogwarts continues to grow more and more advanced with time,_

_And to this very day it still is and aims to be at its utmost prime,_

_I may seem old and worn with my stitching far from pretty,_

_But listen closely children, for I am wise and witty,_

_I know always what you are thinking and exactly what you seek,_

_However, I forewarn you that my words are not always very meek._

_I may not look appealing and seem shriveled up with age,_

_But put me on your head and with you I will engage,_

_Your thoughts are safe with me and I will help you find,_

_The house that best suits you for all your might and state of mind,_

_Maybe you're a Gryffindor, where dwell the bravest of the brave,_

_With insuperable courage, grit and a hero's heart of gold, surely meant to save._

_Or maybe you're a Hufflepuff, which seats those who are faithful and sincere,_

_Open minds and a hard day's work will get you far, so please have no fear,_

_Ravenclaw is next, where those with intellect and inventiveness reside,_

_Use your wisdom and good judgment and show it off with pride,_

_Finally there's Slytherin, which contains those who are bold, sly and prevailing,_

_Just make sure your blood is pure, otherwise you will already be failing._

_Dark times lie ahead and for this you need beware,_

_A war is waging on and it is time for you to prepare,_

_You will learn how to fight but only if you dare,_

_There is no need to worry, for now you are safe here,_

_So as soon as I am finished may you all clap and cheer, _

_Here is to yet another delightful year._

_So now hold up your glasses for a toast and humor me with a grin,_

_It is now finally time for the sorting ceremony to begin!_

As soon as the Sorting hat was finished Neville looked up from his deluxe signed copy of Henchul Raven's 1001 Ways to Magically Improve Your Garden and watched as the first years shuffled nervously to the front of the Great Hall where they would be awaiting their turns to be placed into their respected houses.

They all looked so small, so innocent and so completely clueless. Neville remembered when he had been a first year. It seemed so long ago. He could just cringe at how terrified and clumsy he was.

He had also been a nuisance to almost everyone he crossed paths with. He had been nothing more than a shadow; a stupid, pathetic little shadow lurking behind his housemates.

He had just been so desperate to be a part of the group, to feel wanted, to feel needed and to simply belong but back then Neville had simply tried _too_ hard to belong and only ended up turning most of his peers off to him and he became a target to many, especially to Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy.

Surveying the swarm of first years he saw wide-eyed, terrified looking faces that had gone white. He saw bright, round faces full of innocence, he saw tiny fingers nervously twirling pieces of hair and clutching tightly at robes. He saw a few nail biters and even a couple of stumblers. As he continued to watch every single one of the first years, he realized that could see a little bit of himself in each and every one of them.

"Oy, Neville? That you?"

Neville looked up to see Dean Thomas standing opposite him on the other side of the table. Dean's charming and overtly masculine presence already succeeded in making Neville feel a million times smaller. Dean clearly had Mother Nature on his side.

Dean still stood just over six feet tall, with broad, muscular shoulders. As it turns out, he also happened to have a new addition to his face, a goatee.

Following closely behind Dean, was of course none other than his best friend Seamus Finnegan, who had also experienced quite the growth spurt.

He was still the shortest boy in their dormitory but he had grown a couple of inches and his body had finally begun to fill out. He too appeared to have sprouted a stout, muscular physique overnight.

His normally shaggy, sandy brown hair had been cut to a low buzz, which suited him and while he didn't have a goatee like Dean, Neville did notice that he had a hint of stubble.

"Neville, when'd you get those?" Dean asked pointing to Neville's glasses as he and Seamus took their seats opposite him.

"Well, a couple of months ago I s'pose…turns out my eyesight isn't so good."

"Well, that's a sad blow mate," replied Seamus giving him a one over.

Neville felt his cheeks grow warm. He suddenly was overcome with the desire to sink into the floor and disappear; and this was only the beginning.

He put his book down and focused his attention on his two dorm mates.

"So how was your summer then?" he asked them.

"Great!" Seamus gloated. "Went on vacation to India and let me tell you, all the sights are amazing but nothing beats the lasses. Never in my life have I seen women so beautiful!"

"I spent the whole summer with Ginny and her family," stated Dean simply, taking a bite out of a croissant.

Neville gave them both a small smile but felt his heart drop when Dean mentioned spending the whole summer with Ginny Weasley. Neville had secretly been pining for Ginny ever since she accepted his invitation to the Yule ball in his fourth year.

To this day he still didn't know whether she had accepted out of pity or simply because she wouldn't have been able to go otherwise. It was probably a combination of both. It didn't really matter anyways because she ended up leaving the ball with Michael Corner afterward, who she went on to date briefly.

"Oh, that sounds lovely," replied Neville.

"What 'bout you mate?" asked Seamus through a mouthful of pumpkin pie.

"Oh, my summer was pretty boring actually. I just spruced up my garden a bit and helped Gran around the house with chores and such."

Neville felt like such a loser. Here were Seamus and Dean, who had sensibly spent their summers in India surrounded by beautiful women and with Ginny Weasley while the only highlights of his summer had been when his Mimbulus Mimbeltonia won first place in the Local Lancashire Exotic Plant competition and meeting the wizarding world's most famous herbologist, Henchul Raven at a book signing.

"Oy, Harry! Good to see you again. Ron, Hermione." Dean suddenly called out.

Neville slumped down further in his seat and quickly buried his face in his book.

Neville tried to make it look as though he was deeply involved in his book and that he had no other care in the world while Dean and Seamus chatted on with Harry, Ron and Hermione but really he was trying to decipher what he would say to them whenever they decided to acknowledge him.

He didn't want to muck things up and sound like a complete idiot like he normally did. He wished that he could come up with something exciting to say.

A few moments later Neville felt his book being gently pulled down. He looked up and saw himself face to face with Hermione.

Wow, was summer ever gracious to Hermione Granger. Her normally long, bushy brown hair was swept up into a rather neat bun. Her skin had a lovely golden glow and her body had continued to develop rather _nicely_. She had curves in all of the right places.

Neville realized he was staring so he quickly tore his eyes away from her to find Dean, Seamus, Ron and Harry all eyeing him curiously.

Harry and Ron had even appeared to have been blessed in one way or another by the summer break. Everyone but himself, it seemed, had improved for the better.

"_I nefer knewf you worf gwafsses Nefille_," mumbled Ron through a mouthful of chicken.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"That's because he never did before and don't talk with your mouth full."

"Well, you see," began Neville, "I just got them a few months ago. Gran wasn't too happy about me not having perfect vision and all but now I'm near blind without them."

"What've you been up to? Anything interesting?" Harry asked him, taking a small bite of his dinner.

Neville gave a taut chuckle.

"Oh, no…nothing really. Just the same old routine, you know. Quite the bore."

'_Oh, yes. What a wonderful answer! That's the perfect way to get people to stay interested in a stupid buffoon such as yourself!'_

The sorting hat had already bellowed out half of the first years' names but Neville wasn't paying any mind.

Everyone else around him chattered and chuckled giddily about how fun their summers were. Everyone embraced each other and reconnected so quickly, so easily. As if they had known each other forever and had never been apart during the summer break.

Neville didn't feel as though he fit into this sort of thing. Sure, everyone in Gryffindor got on with each other pretty well but they all had at least _one_ person that they could tell all of their secrets to, bail out of trouble and partner up with in class.

Harry, Ron and Hermione all had each other, Dean had Seamus and Lavender had Parvati, but Neville had never really had a best friend within Hogwarts; hell, he didn't even have a best friend _outside_ of Hogwarts. He supposed he had Trevor, but even Trevor couldn't stand to be around him for more than a couple of minutes at a time.

Neville snapped out of his daze to find Hermione watching him closely, her brow was wrinkled with concern.

"Neville, are you alright? You've been awfully quiet and you haven't touched any of the food…"

"Yeah, yeah sure, m'fine," he replied, forcing a tiny grin.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm just uh, tired is all. I think I may head up to bed here in a bit."

"Bed?" Ron cut in looking towards Neville startled. "But it's not even eight!"

Neville felt another small blush creep up to his cheeks which began to grow even deeper when he saw that Ginny Weasley was approaching the table.

'_Merlin she looks beautiful.'_

Neville held his breath and watched as Ginny seemingly floated up the aisle and apparently, Neville wasn't the only boy watching. Almost all of the boys except for Ron had stopped what they were doing and turned their heads towards Ginny.

Her milky white skin had a healthy sun kissed glow and her freckles, which Neville had always found very alluring, seemed to stand out more than ever. Her soft brown eyes were alive and twinkling with mystery and ferocity. Her long, fiery red hair flowed behind her like a thin, velvety veil of fire. It looked so shiny and smooth.

Neville felt like a creep at times but whenever he looked at Ginny, he couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like to run his hands through her hair. He silently watched as Ginny leaned down and gave Dean a quick peck on the lips and sat down beside him.

Neville reopened his book and buried himself in it.

It seemed that anything Dean wanted, Dean got. He was a good student, making nothing short of an Outstanding in every class. He was on the quidditch team, he was good looking and muscular, had a fine personality with loads of friends and to top it all off he was dating Ginny Weasley, one of the best looking witches to ever grace the halls of Hogwarts.

Neville wondered what it would be like to be Dean for just one day or Seamus or Harry or even Ron for that matter, _anyone_ but himself. Right now, he would just about trade places with any other wizard at Hogwarts, well except for Draco Malfoy and his two cronies Crabbe and Goyle.

In plain and simple terms, what it came down to was that Neville just didn't like himself sometimes.

He had heard a few stories of his parents' years at Hogwarts and apparently his father had been very popular and somewhat of a jock with a golden reputation of being a ladies man and his mother had been very intelligent and outspoken. He wished that he could be more like his parents but he wasn't and he never would be and Neville was finally starting to come to terms with this.

Neville was nothing special. Nothing about him stood out or set him apart from the rest of the crowd. He was practically a squib who simply got lost in the background and quickly faded from memory.

"Hello Neville."

Neville poked his head up from his book to see Ginny's smiling face.

"'Lo Ginny."

"I see you've got glasses now."

"Yep."

"How was your summer?" she asked.

"Fine, how was yours?"

"It was alright," she replied, taking a bite of Dean's croissant. "So, I read in the Daily Prophet that your Mimbulus Mimbeltonia won first place at the exotic plant competition in Lancashire. That's great Neville."

Neville blushed yet again and uttered a quick, unintelligible thanks.

"So," began Ginny, "are you excited about this being your last year then?"

"Oh, yes. Quite excited actually."

Ginny smirked.

"C'mon Gin, we need to uh, talk…about quidditch try outs," replied Dean suddenly.

"Bye guys. Bye Neville," uttered Ginny as she gave her fellow Gryffindors a cheeky grin and allowed for Dean to lead her out of the Great Hall.

Neville watched as Ginny's flowing red hair vanished through the open doors.

"Ha, quidditch my arse! They've got plenty of time for that," mumbled Seamus to no one in particular.

Neville looked up to see what the others were talking about when he noticed that Harry too had been staring at the open doors longingly. It looked as if Neville wasn't the only one more interested in Dean and Ginny's parting than in any other type of conversation currently going on.

"Oy, Harry!" Ron began, waving a hand in front of his face. "D'you hear me? I said who do you think they got as the new defense against the dark arts professor?"

Neville looked up at the staff table and noticed that the spot normally reserved for the dark arts professor was empty. Maybe they wouldn't be having defense against the dark arts this year.

The sorting hat sang its closing song and then Professor Dumbledore proceeded to stand up and walk to the podium. He took his wand and placed it up against his throat so that his voice would be amplified.

"Students, students! Welcome to another glorious year at Hogwarts! May you now show your support by giving a warm Hogwarts welcome to your newest housemates."

Everyone stood up and began to clap as the first years quickly scampered to their house tables. As soon as the clapping died down and everyone was seated, Dumbledore continued.

"As you may have noticed we are missing a staff member this evening but he should be joining us here shortly. Your newest defense against the dark arts professor is very highly respected and overly qualified for this position but never the less I ask you all to make sure he feels right at home…"

At this Professor Snape's lip curled and his dark eyes were flashing.

"He is a world renowned Auror who has participated in the capture of hundreds of the most dangerous criminals and Death Eaters known to the wizarding world. He has traveled all over training wizards and witches of all ages and we are delighted to be having him join our teaching staff. Ah, and here he is now, not a moment too soon."

The students grew silent as the sound of doors slamming and then footsteps filled the air. A man who looked to be in his late thirties entered. He was very tall and thin and was wearing a torn, billowy black dress robe.

Dumbledore walked over and immediately embraced the man, placing both of his hands on the man's shoulders in a fatherly gesture. They continued to talk quietly amongst themselves for a few minutes longer and then Dumbledore finally led the man to the empty seat.

The man had dark brown hair which was graying at the temples and was in dire need of a cut. He also had a thick, scruffy graying beard. He wore glasses and had dark brown eyes with bags and shadows underneath. Although he appeared haggard, he was still quite a decent looking man.

Neville stared harder at the professor and was stricken with a sudden realization. He _knew_ this man. Neville's heart began to pound in his chest as he studied the man more closely.

Harry, Ron and Hermione all turned around to face Neville at the same time with wide eyes.

"Say, Neville…" began Ron, looking back and forth between the new professor and Neville, "doesn't he kind of look like…"

"_My dad_," Neville finished in a whisper.

Neville felt like he was going to be sick. His head was spinning. This had to be some sort of a mistake. This couldn't possibly be…his father was insane! He and Neville's mother had been residents at St. Mungo's for the past sixteen years. Neville felt as though he was going insane.

As soon as the new professor had finished with his brief introduction, things slowly settled back down and returned to normal within a few minutes, all except for Neville that is.

So many thoughts and questions raced through his mind, he suddenly began to feel very ill. He felt as if the Great Hall was closing in on him. Nothing was making any sense to him.

"I've got to go," he quickly mumbled as he got up and hurried out of the Great Hall before anyone could question him.

The rather stunned trio turned to look back up at their new professor who was sitting silently in his seat, his eyes planted on Neville as he swiftly fled from the Great Hall.

------

Neville rushed up the stairs to the boys' dormitories and flung open the washroom door where he lunged towards the toilet. He held onto the bowl with a tight grip and just let everything come up in one, big heave.

He used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat off of his forehead and fell back against the wall, completely exhausted.

'_You're losing it Longbottom…just like dear old Mum and Dad!'_

This couldn't be happening. Neville was in a place right now where he didn't even know what was real and what wasn't. He felt as if he couldn't trust anything or anyone anymore, not even himself.

He thought he was done getting sick but he could still feel a certain heaviness sitting in the pit of his stomach and he didn't like it one bit.

He leaned back over the toilet and heaved a couple of more times. He had been so preoccupied that he had forgotten that he left the door wide open and didn't even hear when Dean had knocked on it.

"You alright there, mate?"

Neville looked up at Dean who was standing in the open doorway staring down at him. His normally pleasant face was twisted up with worry.

"Yeah, m'fine…just got a bit queasy."

"Okay, if you need anything Ginny and I are down in the common room."

"Thanks," Neville managed to reply to Dean before he shut the door and went on his way.

Neville flushed the toilet and stood up to wash his face, brush his teeth and put on his pajamas. As soon as he was finished he turned off the lights and slid into bed. It was only a quarter to eight but Neville couldn't keep his eyes open and within minutes had drifted off to sleep.

------

Neville woke up later that night just after one a.m.

Suddenly he remembered the sorting ceremony and began wondering if what or rather, _who_ he had seen in the Great Hall was real or just a figment of his overactive imagination.

He grabbed his wand from underneath of his pillow.

"Lumos," he whispered holding it out in front of him.

Harry, Ron and Seamus were all sleeping soundly but when Neville turned his wand to Dean's bed he found that it was empty.

Neville slowly climbed out of bed and tiptoed down the stairs into the Gryffindor common room. He would just sit in one of the arm chairs and read some more of his book until he grew sleepy again.

He sat down in front of the fireplace, opened his book and began to read.

About a half hour passed when he heard the fat lady grant someone entrance followed by footsteps coming into the common room.

Neville poked his head up from behind the chair to see Dean stalking in.

"Oy, Neville you startled me."

"Hullo Dean."

"What're you doin' up so late, mate?"

"I just woke up a little bit ago, couldn't get back to sleep."

"I see," replied Dean.

Neville almost hoped that Dean would let it slip to him where he had been all this time or at least clarify that he _hadn't _been with Ginny but he didn't.

"Right then," began Dean. "I'm off to bed. See you in the mornin'."

"'Night." Neville called after him.

Neville looked down at his pocket watch. It was one forty-five a.m.

Suddenly it became harder for him to keep his eyes open. His lids were growing heavy and his head kept bobbing up and down. He closed his book, got up and walked over to the couch where he laid down and instantly fell asleep the moment his head touched the cushion.

------

**Author's Note: **Sorry if that was a boring start but I promise it will get better! Thanks for reading and please be sure to review! :)


	2. Rivalry

**Chapter Two****:** Rivalry

Neville awoke to someone briskly shaking him.

"Neville, wake up! You're going to be late," the voice hissed.

Neville slowly opened his eyes and was alarmed when he realized that he couldn't see a thing. He saw a blurry figure looming over him, which solely by the voice he knew was Hermione.

Neville sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Where are my…I seem to have lost my-"

"They're on top of the mantle. I knew you'd misplace them so when I woke up and found you down here I placed them up there for safe keeping. Now hurry up and get dressed! Everyone else is already having breakfast; which you must be starved since you didn't eat any dinner last night."

Neville walked over to the fireplace mantle and put on his glasses. He went upstairs and got dressed but funnily enough he wasn't feeling very hungry at the moment.

In fact, he hadn't had much of an appetite at all lately. Even before school started back up the amount of food that he had been consuming had reduced dramatically.

He just no longer felt the need to stuff his face with everything in sight until he was so full that he had to undo the top button of his trousers to make room for his bulging stomach, which was how he had gotten on for so long.

To him, his weight loss had been rather unnoticeable and it seemed others agreed considering no one other than his Gran mentioned anything to him.

When he first began losing weight his Gran was praising him daily and encouraged him to keep up with this profoundly unexpected lifestyle change. She was visibly overjoyed to see that her Grandson had finally whipped himself into shape after seventeen years of being on the heavier side.

"_A Longbottom should always look their best_," was one of her favorite sayings.

For the second time in his life his Gran had been proud of him, the first time being when he participated in the battle at the department of mysteries his fifth year, but it never lasted for long. Eventually she had stopped with the compliments and went back to her typical, overbearing self in no time.

For example, during meal times when she noticed that Neville was piling a little bit more food on his plate than what he had grown accustomed to, she would glance down her long nose at him disapprovingly. If even the thought of reaching for another biscuit or helping himself to a second serving crossed his mind she would tsk and sigh and interrogate him endlessly.

"_Are you sure you want to do that, dear? You've shown so much dedication and constraint over these past few months and have finally lost all of that unnecessary weight which you've been carrying for years; and now, when comes a moment of weakness are you so willing to just throw all of that hard work away as if it means nothing? What would your parents say, boy?_"

Then she would let out a low sigh and stare unblinkingly at her grandson before getting into some long-winded lecture about continuing to make _good _choices.

Neville looked down at his pocket watch. Since there were only five minutes left for breakfast he decided to skip it. For once, food was the last thing on his mind.

He walked back down to the common room and sat down until he realized that Trevor was missing.

"Oy, Trevor? Where are you?"

He went back up to the dorms and searched everywhere but there was no sign of him.

"Great, just great."

"What's great?"

"Oh, hi Harry. I was just uh, looking for Trevor. I seem to have lost him again."

"Well, don't worry mate, he'll show up sooner or later like he always does. We missed you at breakfast. If you hurry there's still time to grab a bite."

"I know, I wasn't hungry."

"So, you ready for potions?"

Neville groaned.

"When have I ever been ready for potions?"

"C'mon, we don't want to be late. The last thing we need is a detention from Snape on the very first day of class."

Neville followed Harry to potions and took a seat next to Dean and Seamus.

Hermione turned around to face Neville.

"Why didn't you come to breakfast?" she hissed.

"Wasn't hungry."

"But-"

"Silence! Open your textbooks to page five hundred and eighty three. This is advanced potions and all of you here should by now be able to brew the simplest of potions on command within minutes, with the exception of a select few…_Longbottom_," drawled Snape, his eyes slowly scanning the room to land on Neville, who blushed furiously.

Neville hung his head to avoid Snape's glare and held his breath.

This was going to be a_ long_ day.

------

The day was finally half over and Neville was in the common room working on some homework.

He was the only person in there and was enjoying the peace and quiet until the fat lady granted someone entrance.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of red. Neville looked up from his work and sure enough it was the unmistakable red hair of a Weasley, Ginny to be exact.

Neville's heart fluttered in his chest.

"Hi Neville, how are you?"

"I'm fine…you?"

"I'm doing good. Listen, I've got something for you."

Ginny began to advance towards him with both hands behind her back, grinning ear to ear.

Neville stood up and was surprised at how short Ginny was or rather how tall he'd become.

"Pick one," she said.

"Uhhh…that one," he replied pointing to her left.

Ginny brought her left arm forward, producing Trevor.

"Trevor! Where'd you find him?"

Ginny giggled and gently dumped Trevor into Neville's outstretched hands.

"He was hopping around the corridors like mad this afternoon. He must have been hungry. It looked like he was on his way to the kitchen."

"Thanks, I've been looking for him all day."

They both continued to stand there in silence.

'_Say something you idiot!'_

Neville wanted so badly to say something to her while she was right there in front of him. He wanted to keep a conversation going and for things to not be awkward but as of right now that was proving to be very difficult. It was rare for him to be around Ginny when she was by herself and now was the perfect time to strike up a good, meaningful conversation.

Ginny stood in front of Neville, staring past him. She began to rock back and forth on her heels.

"So…" she began.

"Uhhh, how are your classes going so far?" he mumbled.

'_You idiot! What a dumb question, it's the first day of class!'_

Ginny's face brightened and she looked up at Neville.

"Good. How about yours?"

"Alright I s'pose."

"Yeah so Dean is going to be helping me recruit new members for the quidditch team soon…you should try out."

Neville snorted.

"_Me_?" Neville replied pointing to himself. "On the quidditch team? Ha, Ginny you must be joking, that would be a complete disaster. A lot could be explained just from my first flying lesson but you had the great fortune of missing that."

Ginny giggled.

"Well, it got around to me eventually."

Neville blushed and mentally cursed Ron for telling Ginny about it.

"Besides," Neville continued, "I'm not very uh, gifted in the athletics department."

Ginny frowned.

"But how would you know unless you tried?"

"Oh, trust me Ginny, I know. Plus, I'm not exactly you know, in the err, best…necessary physical shape required to play."

Ginny narrowed her eyes on him.

"Bollocks! You are in fine shape, Neville. You've lost a ton of weight."

Neville blushed.

"I don't know Ginny. We'll see…"

Ginny grinned and pulled a folded piece of parchment out of her back pocket and handed it to him.

"Great! Try outs begin next week."

Neville unfolded it. It was a flier for quidditch try outs.

"I've got to go. Dean and I are going to study, see you later."

'_Well at least you talked to her for more than just a couple of seconds.'_

Neville went back to his homework and had gotten about two and half pages written when he was soon enough interrupted by yelling.

Neville flinched as the common room door slammed shut and the Fat Lady cursed loudly.

"Oh, no! You don't _need_ me Ron! Why don't you go find Lavender so you two can continue sucking each other's faces off in front of everyone!"

"Why are you so bitter all of a sudden, eh? Sometimes I think you seem to forget that if it weren't for Harry and me taking you in during our first year you wouldn't even have any friends!"

Hermione gasped and spun around, moving closer towards Ron until their noses were practically touching.

"I CAN _NOT_ believe you just said that! How dare you! Are you suggesting that I was the charitable profit of the week or something? I can't believe you Ron! You're just so…ugh! You just don't get it!"

"I don't get what?"

"ANYTHING! You are just so blind…just absolutely pathetic! Just leave me alone, go on! Have fun wasting brain cells because that is _EXACTLY _what happens every time you snog Lavender Brown, or should I say, Lav-lav…"

"Hey, don't talk about my girlfriend like that!"

Neville squeezed his eyes shut and waited for them to leave but they didn't. Ron and Hermione were both his mates and all but their infinite squabbles _had_ to stop. They had argued through most of last year and he hoped that this year wouldn't be a repeat of last year because all of the fighting was giving him major headaches.

He put his quill down and turned around to face the bickering duo.

Suddenly they stopped shouting at each other and turned to face Neville.

Ron's face began to turn as red as his hair.

"Sorry mate, we didn't see you there…"

"'S alright…" replied Neville softly.

Hermione turned her back to Ron and went to sit down next to Neville.

"So that's it then? You're just going to ignore me now? Oh, real mature Hermione."

"What are you up to Neville?" asked Hermione rather loudly, considering she was sitting right next to him.

Neville squirmed and gave her a weird look.

"Charms essay…" he replied quietly.

"Need any help with it? I already finished mine."

"Uhhh…"

"I can proof-read what you have so far if you like."

"You know what Hermione…" began Ron, who was clearly not ready to give up. "I think you need to find yourself someone special. It'll be good for you, you know. Then maybe you'll stop being so crabby all the time and quit taking your uh, _frustrations_ out on me and Lavender."

Neville made a quick side glance at Hermione and saw that while she looked rather calm her hands told a different story. One hand was clenched into a fist so tight her knuckles were turning white and the other hand had such a strong hold on one of Neville's quill's that it snapped clean in half like a twig.

"You always manage to find a way to bring Lavender into everything don't you Ron?"

"Just admit it, Hermione. You're obviously jealous of what Lavender and I have…"

"JEALOUS? HA!" Hermione jumped up and turned to face Ron. "You think_ I'm _jealous of you and Lavender? That's the funniest thing you've ever said Ron! And for your information I've already found someone...not that it's any of your business."

"Yeah? Who then? Haven't seen you with anyone."

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because if you don't then what reason do I have to believe you?"

Hermione turned her back to Ron and sat down.

"Is it Krum?" he questioned. "Have you two been writing each other again?"

"I don't care if you believe me or not Ron and it's none of your concern. Just because I choose not to flaunt my personal life in front of everyone doesn't mean that nothing interesting is going on in it. I know the truth and that's all that matters."

Neville turned around to glance at Ron who was standing tall, tapping one foot against the floor with both hands on his hips. He was staring at the back of Hermione's head with his mouth slightly agape.

"Well good, because I_ don't_ believe you."

"Alright then, that's fine. Why don't you run along now Ronald. Neville and I are busy."

Neville was about to respond with '_We are_?' but Hermione quickly shot him a look which kept him quiet.

Neville expected to hear angry footsteps retreating out of the common room but Ron continued to stand his ground.

"So then who exactly is this _someone_? It_ is_ Krum isn't it?"

"I thought we've already established that you don't believe me so I don't see any need to let this drag out."

"I'm just curious," replied Ron.

"Go on, Ron. You don't want to keep Lav-lav waiting."

Apparently that had been the last straw for Ron because after letting out a low growl he finally stormed out of the common room in defeat.

Hermione slouched down in her seat and released her breath.

"Whew! Gosh, he can be such an insensitive jerk sometimes. Sorry about all that and thanks for being so patient."

"'S alright, Hermione," Neville replied. "I understand."

"Here, let me read what you've got so far. Do you mind?"

"Uh, no go on ahead. I have to warn you though…it's ummm, not my best work. I'm just aiming to get by."

Hermione picked up his essay and began to read it and while she did Neville stared into the empty fireplace, wondering how many mistakes she had already come across.

'_She thinks its complete rubbish…but that's to be expected. After all, what more can you expect from a near squib?"_

Neville was used to hearing this voice inside his head. This voice told him on a regular basis what a failure he was and how pathetic he was, while never forgetting to add that he was ugly, fat, stupid and worthless. He used to try to ignore the voice but it never worked. The voice was too powerful.

"Neville," began Hermione, setting his essay down and turning to face him. "This is excellent. You're off to a really great start so far."

"Really?" replied Neville rather surprised. "How many mistakes are there?"

"None."

"Hermione, maybe you ought to read it again…"

"Maybe _you_ ought to quit underestimating your abilities Neville. You never give yourself any credit. There is a lot more to you than you will ever know."

"Errr…thanks?"

"Listen Neville, I've been meaning to talk to you…"

"'Bout what?"

"Well, I don't want this to seem weird or anything but I was wondering if I could ask you a favor?"

"Sure, anything."

"Well, this is uh, rather embarrassing and you don't have to do it but I thought maybe I could just run it by you first?"

"Uh, alright…"

Hermione took a deep breath and focused her eyes anywhere but Neville.

Neville was growing more anxious to hear what she was going to ask of him because whatever it was he didn't think it'd be anything simple, as he'd never seen her this visibly nervous before, especially around him.

"Okay, ummm…I was wondering if maybe we could you know, pretend to be…_together_?" Hermione paused to sneak a quick glance at Neville and then continued.

"I just want to do it to, you know…rattle Ron's cage a little bit."

Neville could do nothing but stare at Hermione with his mouth open like a complete idiot. When Neville had finally gotten over the initial shock of what Hermione had just suggested, he spoke.

"So…_you_ want to pretend that you're dating _me_…to mess with Ron? Hermione this doesn't really sound like something you would normally do."

Hermione's cheeks began to flush.

"I know but I'm just so tired of him making comments about_ my_ personal life. Maybe this'll teach him a thing or two, you know?"

"Well, Hermione I'd really like to help you out but-"

"But what?"

"It's just, I don't think that I'm necessarily the right person to be asking…I mean I'm just not really boyfriend material and-"

"Not boyfriend material?" interrupted Hermione, looking slightly taken aback and raising an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, it's just…I've never even been in a real relationship before and I wouldn't know the first thing on how to act or anything and I just honestly don't think I'm…I just think you could find someone better. Why don't you ask Harry or Seamus?"

"Neville, you are the first and only person I have decided to come to so if you don't want to do this then I'm just going to forget everything. I haven't been in a real relationship either but honestly what all can there be to it? This wouldn't be real obviously, it would just be…like the way things are between us now only we'd be together more often and maybe you know, have a little hand holding here and there, some flirting…" Hermione paused briefly and let out a small cough before finishing the last part, "_touching_…"

Neville's eyes got wide and he turned to look at Hermione who blushed furiously.

"Oh, you know what I mean!" she explained.

"I don't know, won't people think we look a little ridiculous together? I mean, Hermione you're so smart and pretty and I'm just…well, a joke. I don't want us to be made into a laughing stock."

Hermione let out a harsh laugh.

"What are you getting at? I'm certainly no prize trophy."

"Hermione, that's not true. I've always thought you were pretty. All of the other guys as well, it's just that their judgment may be just a little clouded right now but they'll see eventually."

Hermione stared hard at Neville for a few moments without saying anything.

"Neville, have you looked in the mirror lately?"

Neville sighed.

"The last mirror I looked into told me that I was a lost cause and a dreadful sight."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Only you would manage to believe something a mirror told you. You really are too hard on yourself, you know. You are always talking so badly about yourself. You talk as if you are some kind of diseased mountain troll or something. There is _nothing_ wrong with you Neville. All you need is to gain some confidence."

"Oh yeah, what would that get me?"

"Girls like boys with confidence."

"Yeah, but girls don't notice me…even worse girls just don't like me."

"Nonsense. I've seen a couple of girls with their eyes on you lately."

"Yeah right," mumbled Neville, "you're just saying that to make me feel better."

"No, honest!"

"Right," Neville let out a sigh. "Well, how long would we have to do this for?"

Hermione grinned and pulled Neville into a tight hug.

"Oh, Neville, thank you!"

"But just to let you know if this backfires then I had absolutely nothing to do with it."

------

**Author's Note: **So, while this is a complete AU fic I'm trying to keep everyone in character and I hope I'm doing a good job with that! I do realize that Hermione asking Neville to pose as her boyfriend may seem a little OOC for her but she just wants to beat Ron at his own game. Please don't forget to leave a review! :)


	3. Deception

**Chapter Three:** Deception

So thus, as of the next morning Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger were 'officially' a couple. They woke up and chatted quietly amongst themselves in the corner of the common room all morning and then they escorted each other to breakfast, where they sat together.

They sat together in all of their classes and even partnered up as well. They both went to the library after lunch and now they were in the common room where they were supposed to be studying but rather it looked as though they were sharing an inside joke of some sort.

On the other side of the common room sat Ron and Harry who were involved in a game of exploding snap, only it was more like Harry was playing by himself since Ron wasn't paying any attention and was losing because he couldn't stop stealing glimpses over at Neville and Hermione.

"Your turn…Ron?"

"What?"

Harry watched his best friend closely.

"Ron, just give her time. She'll give in and talk to you eventually."

"What do you think those two are on about, huh? Since when does Hermione ever spend_ that_ much time with Neville? D'you think she's tutoring him or something?"

"Haven't the slightest clue. Your turn."

Ron snorted.

"Look at her, over there looking all smug. She is being so unreasonable. She's the one who started the whole thing in the first place. I refuse to apologize to her."

"Ron, don't you think you're overreacting just a bit. It was just another one of your guys' stupid little arguments. You guys have them all the time. Just forget about it and move on."

"Say, Harry? Has Hermione mentioned anything to you about any sort of _special_ someone that she might be seeing?"

"No, not that I know of."

"Ha! So she was lying."

"What are you talking about Ron?"

"Yesterday I told Hermione that maybe it would be best for her if she found herself a boyfriend because maybe then she would quit obsessing over me and Lavender; and then she got real upset and told me she already had one."

"Obsessing Ron? I'd say _you_ are the one obsessing."

Over on the other side of the common room Hermione couldn't help but break into a wide grin. She had Ron _right_ where she wanted him. She just knew that he was over there making a fuss. This is exactly what she wanted. She continued to play it up by laughing loudly at everything Neville was saying without ever breaking eye contact with him.

Hermione rested both of her elbows on the table and leaned forward to whisper something into Neville's ear.

"This is just ridiculous! Hermione is acting so childish right now!" Ron muttered.

"Why? Because she's spending a little quality time with Neville? That makes her childish?"

"No, because she's avoiding me! She knows _just_ how to push my buttons."

"Look Ron, do you want to continue playing or not because you've basically missed the last six turns and I've already won so…"

"Yeah, sure, sure…oh, look! D'you see that?"

"See what?"

Harry turned around to follow Ron's gaze which led to Neville and Hermione and what he saw surprised him. Their bodies were huddled _very_ close together and it looked as if they were reading something.

If anyone who wasn't a Gryffindor were to walk in and witness the two of them right now their body language highly suggested that they were more than just friends. In fact, their body language apparently seemed to suggest to Dean and Seamus, who had just walked in, that they were more than just friends.

"Whoa! Hubba, hubba! What's going on between those two?" asked Dean in a low whisper, motioning over to the other end of the common room.

"Absolutely nothing," shot Ron quickly. "They're just studying…or something."

Seamus grinned and then snickered.

"Sure, studying…that's why Hermione is practically in Neville's lap."

Ron crossed his arms over his chest and glowered at Seamus.

"Would either of you two like a game of exploding snap? Ron here is too preoccupied at the moment to fully participate…"

"Sure Harry, we'll play," replied Seamus.

Both Dean and Seamus pulled up a couple of chairs and sat down.

Seamus looked up at Ron and noticed that he had redirected his attention towards Neville and Hermione again.

"You know, I'm not usually one to talk…but they've been inseparable _all_ day."

"So what are you saying Seamus? Are you saying you think that…no way! Not Neville and Hermione?" replied Dean.

Seamus put his hands up in defense.

"Hey now, I'm not _saying_ anything. I'm just saying what I saw."

"Well, actually if you think about it it makes perfect sense," began Dean.

"What? What does? What makes perfect sense?" asked Ron, turning to face Dean.

"Those two." Dean replied without looking up.

"What d'you mean?" Ron questioned further.

"Basically it's not really all that much of a surprise now that I think about it. It just makes sense."

"Go on! Get on with it then!" replied Ron impatiently.

"What makes sense?" asked Ginny walking up and grabbing a chair to sit next to her boyfriend.

Dean wrapped his arm around her and chuckled.

Without looking up from his cards Harry nonchalantly jerked his head towards Neville and Hermione, who were quickly becoming the talk of the common room.

"Oh…" Ginny replied blandly.

"You don't know what you're talking about Dean," muttered Ron.

"Well, c'mon. It's no secret that Neville's fancied Hermione before…maybe she has just now finally decided to give him a shot. I mean, they've both never been in a relationship before and she's always helping him out in potions…"

"Which means nothing," retorted Ron.

"Hermione would help_ any_ of us in potions if we needed it though and how do you know Neville's fancied Hermione?" asked Ginny, turning to face Dean.

"Well, It's kind of obvious and plus, she _was_ his first choice to ask to the Yule Ball."

Ginny let out an offensive squeak and stared hard at the floor.

"I thought_ I_ was his first choice…" she pouted.

"Why does it even matter anyways Gin?" began Harry without looking up. "You ended up ditching him for Michael Corner later that night or did that suddenly slip your mind?"

Ginny blushed and glared at him.

"Well, I for one will say that I am happy for them."

They all turned their eyes to Seamus.

"What?" he continued, "I am…"

Ginny took another fleeting look over towards Neville and Hermione. Their heads were now turned where you could catch only a slight side glimpse of their grinning faces and they looked like they were_ very _much enjoying each other's company.

"This morning I saw them holding hands on their way to breakfast," she stated simply.

At this, Ron's head immediately snapped away from Neville and Hermione and was now planted on his little sister.

"Holding hands?" he questioned.

"Did I stutter?"

Suddenly Lavender and Parvati entered.

"Won-won! There you are! I've been looking for you! I thought we were going to go for a walk?"

"Actually, _no Lavender_" Ron practically shouted, at least loud enough to make sure Hermione could hear him.

"I've decided _we should stay here_," he finished, adding emphasis on the last part and drawing it out slowly.

"Oh," Lavender began with disappointment. "Well I was kind of hoping we could be…_alone_."

Ron abruptly stood up and walked over to Lavender. He took her by the hand and pulled her into a corner and began to snog her.

"Not again…" Ginny groaned.

Harry and the others began to snicker.

"Get a room, you two!" shouted Seamus.

Every few minutes Ron would open one eye and peer over to see if Hermione took notice but she didn't. She and Neville continued to talk quietly amongst themselves as if there were no one else in the room.

A few minutes later Neville and Hermione stood up and walked out of the common room hand in hand, completely unscathed.

Ron tore himself away from Lavender as soon as they were gone.

"I need to get some fresh air, let's go outside."

"But Won-won, you just said you wanted to stay here…"

"I changed my mind, lets go."

As soon as Ron and Lavender were gone the remaining Gryffindors exchanged puzzled glances and continued on with their game.

------

"Neville, that was brilliant! Oh, I wish I could have seen the look on Ron's face the entire time but I just know he was getting upset!"

Neville and Hermione were in the Astronomy tower staring out over the school grounds.

"I really appreciate this Neville. You are such a good sport."

Neville chuckled softly.

"I imagine you would have done the same for me."

"Of course," she replied.

The wind had begun to pick up and Hermione began to shiver.

"Do you want my coat?"

"Oh, no Neville, thank you but I couldn't possibly."

"Here, you need it more than I do."

With that Neville pulled off his coat and draped it around Hermione's shoulders.

"Thank you, Neville."

"You're welcome."

They both sat down. Hermione was looking up at the sky and Neville as usual, was staring down at his feet.

"You know Neville? You are going to make some lucky girl a wonderful boyfriend."

Neville blushed although it was hard to tell considering his cheeks were already tinged red from the cold. In fact, Neville was very cold at the moment but he tried not to let it show.

All he had on that was providing any pinch of warmth was an ugly green, yellow and brown stocking cap and an old, flimsy gray sweater that his Gran had bought him years ago.

The sweater was a little too snug on him and Neville suddenly began to wonder what on earth had possessed him to wear it. He suddenly felt overwhelmingly self-conscious.

He stretched out his long legs and then folded his arms across his seemingly protruding mid-section.

"You're going to find a great girl one of these days Neville. One who is worthy and respectable of you but you can't keep holding yourself off to the possibility of other girls just because…"

Hermione stopped to let out a sigh and then continued.

"Look, I know what you are going through. I know what it feels like to want to be with someone so much only to have them be so taken with someone else."

Neville turned towards Hermione and wrinkled his nose with confusion.

"Hermione, what are you talking about?"

Hermione let out another prolonged sigh.

"Ginny…"

Neville appeared bowled over.

"W-what about her?"

"Neville, I've seen the way you look at her. You've been looking at her the same way for the past three years now. Ginny's great and all but I don't think she even knows exactly what she wants right now. She has had more boyfriends than I have had Outstandings. My point is it's not good for you to, you know…stay hung up over her. It's not fair to you. You need to open yourself up to new possibilities. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Neville sighed and then scoffed.

"It's_ that_ obvious, huh?"

"Oh, Neville I mean, I just had a_ feeling_…It's just I care for Ginny but I also care for you and I would hate for you to get hurt or for there to be a misunderstanding…"

"Thanks Hermione but I am already very much aware of the fact that even if Ginny were single that the idea of her and I happening would be pretty much next to impossible. I-I think I'd have a slightly better chance at actually getting an exceeds expectations in advanced potions."

"Oh, Neville…"

"No, honestly though, am I really _that_ predictable? D'you think anyone else knows?"

"I wouldn't worry about it. Most of the time everyone else is too concerned with their own love lives to notice who has a crush on who."

"Good because if Dean ever found out he'd murder me in my sleep."

There was a long moment of silence and Hermione began to twiddle her fingers nervously.

"Neville, I know this may seem a bit forward but have you ever kissed anyone before? I know it's a personal question and you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"Nope."

"Me either…well, Viktor Krum kissed me after the Yule ball but it wasn't like a _real_ kiss, you know?"

"Right," replied Neville awkwardly, wondering where on earth this conversation could possibly be leading.

"Do you think that…well, would you want to maybe…you and I could just...have a go at it? As friends, of course just to kind of see what it's like. We don't have to but I've always wanted to, you know…_practice_. This way we can both gain some experience for when we uh, kiss other people. Oh, for goodness sake! What am I saying? I'm so sorry Neville…"

Neville didn't say anything. Instead he continued to stare down at his shoes and go over what Hermione had just said to him.

'_She has GOT to be kidding! Why on earth would she want to kiss you? No, why on earth would ANYONE want to kiss you?'_

"Neville? Listen. Let's just forget I said anything, okay?"

"No, I'm sorry. I just wasn't expecting that…"

Neville looked back up at Hermione and gave her a tiny smile.

Hermione let her head drop into her hands.

"I can _not_ believe I actually said that…_out loud_."

"S'okay, Hermione…"

"No it's not. I am so embarrassed right now," she groaned.

Neville looked around and then awkwardly placed a reassuring hand on her back.

"Really Hermione, it's fine. You have nothing to be embarrassed about…take it from someone who embarrasses himself all the time."

Hermione lifted her head back up to look at Neville.

"Any girl would be crazy _not_ to like you."

Hermione scooted a little closer to Neville and placed her head on his shoulder.

Neville wasn't sure of what he should do so he awkwardly wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"You are a good friend Neville, a good person and an exceptional wizard. I just wish that _you_ could see that."

Hermione tilted her head up towards him and stared.

His complexion was clear, unlike many of their more unfortunate peers who had blotchy faces full of acne, and it seemed to be glowing against the darkened evening.

He had beautiful, long dark lashes and warm brown eyes that were hidden behind his large, black framed glasses. His nose was long and straight and at the moment, very red. It was dotted with freckles that spread all across his cheeks.

Compared to the other boys in their year, Neville had such a young, innocent looking face. Obviously he was a little ways behind the rest of them in the puberty department, in terms of facial hair and such but that wasn't important.

He had a scar near his left eyebrow and then another small one above his lip. Hermione wondered how he got them. Suddenly Neville and Hermione locked eyes. Hermione didn't know where this was coming from but she had a sudden and uncontrollable urge to kiss him.

'_No wait, this is Neville! You and Neville are STRICTLY friends! That's it nothing more! Although, you have to admit he does look rather fetching in his little gray sweater and his clashing stocking cap. Oh, and he did give you his coat like a true gentleman…argh, what are you saying! You can NOT do this! You would just be leading him on! Just back away now!'_

But Hermione did just the opposite of what her conscience screamed at her. Instead she began to lean in towards Neville and she stopped when their faces were just inches apart. She waited to see if he would move in, which of course he didn't.

"Hermione…" Neville whispered, "I think that you should save something as important as your first kiss for someone more _appealing_. I'd hate for you to waste it on me."

Hermione closed her eyes.

"It wouldn't be wasteful, Neville."

Hermione decided she was just going to go for it. She placed both of her hands on either side of his face and lightly placed her lips on top of his and then a few moments later she pulled away.

Neville refused to meet her eyes so she had no way of knowing his reaction.

Hermione leaned in again and pressed her lips against his, only with a little more force this time. Hermione was delighted and silently rejoiced when Neville's lips finally began to move against her own. After a few moments of soft kisses they began to explore each other's mouths with their tongues which was _interesting_ in a good way.

Finally, when their lips parted they pulled away and stared at each other in awe.

"Wow, that was…nice."

"Yeah," agreed Neville.

And it had been a very nice kiss but both of them realized that there were no sparks. While it had also been a very intense and passionate kiss, there was nothing behind it other than just heat of the moment, unadorned curiosity and rampant teenage hormones.

"Well, I think we ought to be heading back don't you? The others are going to wonder where we are," replied Hermione after taking a moment to catch her breath.

"Yeah it is getting kind of late," agreed Neville.

Neville and Hermione climbed down from the Astronomy tower and reentered Hogwarts but what they did not see as they were walking was Ginny Weasley standing in the shadows, watching them descend into the castle with a frown.

------

**Author's Note: **Okay, so like I promised, after this things are going to start taking off and get much more interesting as the story progesses! Please be sure to leave a review! :)


	4. Revelations

**Chapter Four:** Revelations

The next morning Neville woke up to find Hermione sitting near the fireplace sipping on a cup of hot cocoa.

She looked up and smiled at him as he came down the stairs.

"Hey," she called.

"G'morning," he replied.

"Listen about last night…" she began. "You don't feel weird about it or anything do you? Or awkward towards me because I would hate for that to be the case."

"Not at all…why? Do you?"

"Nope."

Neville gave her a shy grin and sat down next to her.

"How long have you been awake?" he asked.

"Oh, I've been up for a couple of hours now."

"Would you like to come to the greenhouse and keep me company before breakfast?" Neville offered.

"That sounds lovely."

They continued to chat until they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. It was Ron.

They immediately stopped talking as soon as he set foot in the common room.

He stretched and rubbed his eyes, scanning the room sleepily. He eventually spotted Neville and Hermione by the fireplace.

"Well, I see I'm interrupting something…" he muttered rather frigidly through a yawn.

"Actually you weren't. Neville and I were just about to go to the greenhouse and then breakfast."

"Oh, so you're not giving me the cold shoulder anymore eh?"

Sensing that the awkward tension in the room was about to overturn, Neville decided now was his best chance to make a clean get away.

"Uh, I think I'm going to go ahead and get dressed. I'll meet you at the greenhouse entrance Hermione."

Neville got up and quickly descended up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

Ron waited until after Neville was gone before he started to speak.

"So…you and Neville have been spending an awful lot of time together yeah?"

"Point being?"

"No, nothing. I'm just making a simple observation."

"Right, and yes, yes we are. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Nope."

"Good."

"Alright, then."

There was a heavy friction that hovered between them that was making both of them uncomfortable.

Ron cleared his throat.

"So uh, are you two _together_ then?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Are you and Neville…you know, dating?"

"I don't believe that is any of your concern."

"I'm just curious."

"I wouldn't think you'd care about who I did or did not date. Don't you have your own love life to worry about?"

"Are you or aren't you?"

"Typical…Ron, why don't you just drop it okay?"

"Just answer the question Hermione."

"Maybe…"

"Maybe?"

"Yes Ron, maybe."

"You really are enjoying this aren't you? So this is how you get your sick kicks. You females, I tell ya- You're all sick!"

Hermione rolled her eyes and stood up to face him.

"Look, Ronald. All we ever seemed to do in more recent times was butt heads. So, maybe us taking some time apart from each other is a good thing. I mean, it's been working. We haven't been arguing as much have we?"

"That's because we never see each other!"

"Well, you have Lav-lav to console you now don't you?"

"Would you stop calling her Lav-lav!"

"Fine."

"Thank you."

"Alright then, well, I am going to go get dressed and meet Neville down at the greenhouse. I will see you later."

Hermione turned and headed up to the girls' dormitories with a huge smile on her face. It was completely unethical, inappropriate and maybe even_ slightly_ evil but her twisted plan was working. Ron was beginning to crack.

------

Neville and Hermione were ten minutes late arriving to breakfast so of course when they hurried into the Great Hall and sat down all eyes were on them.

"What took you two so long?" asked Seamus, wiggling his eyebrows at them suggestively.

Neville blushed.

"We were in the greenhouse," replied Hermione.

"What were you guys doing in there? No one can get into the greenhouse without Professor Sprout," he replied.

"It's none of your business what we were doing, Seamus!" huffed Hermione.

"I uh, can get into the greenhouse whenever I want," replied Neville. "Professor Sprout gave me the password."

"Oh," continued Seamus with a wicked grin. "Well I'm sure whatever it was you two lovebirds were doing in there must have been _very_ important considering it caused you to miss the first ten minutes of breakfast."

"Oh, honestly Seamus! Just eat!" Hermione moaned.

"Hermione?" began Harry. "Ron wants me to ask you if you would mind passing the rolls over to him?"

"Well, Harry. You tell Ron that he can get off his lazy bum and get them himself."

Harry turned to Ron and repeated what Hermione said.

"What's the matter Ron? You had no problem pestering me earlier."

"I don't appreciate the way you've been acting and I would like an apology."

"_You_ want an apology from me. Oh, no no you owe _me _an apology, Ronald."

"Could you guys please not do this now?" asked Dean.

"Ron, if you have something you'd like to say to me then feel free to approach me in private."

"And how am I supposed to do that? You're never alone!"

While Ron and Hermione continued to bicker back and forth the rest of the Gryffindor table tried their best to ignore them and carry on with their own conversations.

Neville was also attempting to ignore them. Although he was actually hoping that they would continue to argue until breakfast was over because that meant Hermione wasn't paying attention to him, which meant that she wasn't paying attention to what he was or wasn't eating.

She had been getting on him at almost every meal about not eating enough and it was getting very annoying and her nagging was even worse if he didn't eat anything at all.

He looked down at his plate and began to poke at a few tiny smokies with his fork, the squishing sound made Neville cringe and when a tiny river of grease began to expel from the smokies and run down his plate, he gagged.

Neville was so disgusted he didn't think he'd be able to eat anything. And at that very moment, as if reading his thoughts Hermione, without fully turning away from Ron, tossed two pieces of toast onto Neville's plate.

"Here, eat these," she told him and then jumped right back into the argument.

Neville stared down at the toast and quickly shoved both pieces into his mouth.

He took a quick swig of pumpkin juice and stood up.

"I'm going to go look for Trevor. See you guys in a little bit."

"Wait," Hermione replied tearing her eyes away from Ron. "Where are you going? You only had two pieces of toast."

"I know. I'm nervous about today's defense against the dark arts lesson."

And he really was. It was their first class of the day after breakfast.

"Oh, it'll be fine, Neville," she replied quickly.

"Would you like me to help you look for Trevor?" offered Ginny, who had had her full attention on Dean all throughout breakfast until now.

"Oh, no thank you, Ginny. I'm sure he's just hiding up in the dorms somewhere."

Neville muttered a quick good-bye to everyone and quickly wandered off.

"Wonder where he's always running off to so fast?" Seamus questioned aloud to no one in particular.

------

It was time for their first defense against the dark arts lesson and Neville was feeling extremely uneasy about it. Whenever he hadn't been occupied with Hermione, which was hardly ever, all he could think about was the new professor.

He stood outside of the room and watched as his classmates all began to make their way in. He leaned against the wall and took a few deep breaths. This was absolutely unreal. Neville was about to be taught by a man who eerily resembled his father.

"No, no you just imagined all that…there is _no_ way."

"Neville, are you alright? You look a little pale?"

Neville felt his face begin to burn up. Great, just what he needed, Hermione walking up to him while he was talking to himself.

"'Mfine," he mumbled.

"Well, are you coming?" She asked, waving for him to follow her inside.

Neville followed Hermione into the room and she immediately took a seat right in the front row but when she saw that Neville was rushing to the back she grabbed her things and followed.

Their professor hadn't arrived yet and the students were beginning to get restless.

"Neville, are you _sure_ you're okay?"

"I'll be fine."

Suddenly the class fell dead silent as their new professor strolled into the room and closed the door behind him. He walked to his desk and began to sort through his brief case and set things out.

Finally he looked up and gave a rather nervous smile.

"Uh, hello…as you all know I will be your new defense against the dark arts professor. I thought maybe for today we'd start off with a few refresher lessons and then we'll start getting into the good stuff."

His eyes scanned the room.

"Well, it uh, looks like everyone's here," he began with a chuckle, "so shall we begin?"

Padma Patil raised her hand.

"Uh, yes? You there."

"Ummm well, Professor…?" she stopped suddenly, realizing that he hadn't yet told the class his name.

"Oh, how silly of me," he chuckled. "Longbottom."

Neville felt the blood drain completely from his face. He began to feel very lightheaded and all of this was made worse as every single student in the class turned to stare at him. Their eyes moved back and forth from him to the professor.

"Professor…_Longbottom_," Padma continued slowly. "Are we going to be learning how to administer any new curses?

"Why yes we are, I've got a lot in store for all of you."

Practically everyone's eyes were still on Neville and all he wanted now more than anything was for the floor to open up and swallow him whole.

Seamus leaned back in his seat and turned to Neville.

"Say, Neville is that your dad?"

Neville said nothing and continued to stare down at his feet.

"Right, I suppose I should tell you all a little about myself. I've been an Auror for almost nineteen years now. I've traveled all over the world teaching what I know to other hopeful Aurors and uh, well unless anyone has any questions they'd like to ask me then I guess that about takes care of that…"

"Have you ever killed anyone?"

The professor grinned weakly.

"Fortunately, no…it has never come to that."

The rest of class seemed to pass by rather slowly and Neville was in a daze the entire time. He just couldn't concentrate.

----

"Alright, very well done; and that concludes today's lesson. I'll see you all next time."

The class slowly began to file out and Neville tried to make his escape before anyone could question him, which like with many other things in his life, he failed miserably.

"Neville?" the professor called, gently grabbing him by the arm as he passed. "Do you have a minute? I've been meaning to talk to you."

Neville nodded and watched as the rest of the class looked back at them before filtering out of the room.

"I uh, didn't want to call you out during class and cause you any more embarrassment than you've already experienced."

Neville said nothing and didn't make eye contact.

"Wow, you- you really look just like her…your mother." The older man stopped and began to fidget with a loose thread on his robes.

A few moments of silence passed and then the professor looked up.

"Neville? I'm not making you uncomfortable am I?"

Neville shook his head no but continued to stare down at his feet.

"You've got your mother's face. It's like I'm looking at her, like she's here with me right now."

Finally, Neville somehow found the courage to look up and he found himself staring into his father's face. Well, not _exactly_ but the resemblance was uncanny; minus the fact that his father was thinner, paler, clean shaven and insane, unlike the man standing before him now.

"Neville…do you know who I am?"

Neville blushed and returned his gaze to the floor.

"So, I take it your Grandmother has failed to mention me?"

Neville said nothing.

"Well Neville, I am your father's twin brother, Francis."

It all made sense now. Neville felt a little bit of weight lift off of him and he began to relax a little.

"So then she's _never_ mentioned me? Not once?"

Neville shook his head no.

"I guess that explains a lot…"

When Neville still didn't reply the professor continued.

"Look, Neville I'm sure this all must be very confusing and awkward and maybe even a little scary but I promise in time it will all make sense…you have to trust me."

Still nothing.

The professor sighed and stared down at his nephew, hoping that he would speak.

"Do you…visit?" the professor asked sadly.

"Yes, my Gran and I go during the holidays."

"How are things?"

"Nothing's changed…" mumbled Neville glumly.

"I see."

"I uh, really should be going or I'll be late to my next class…" replied Neville awkwardly.

"I understand," said Francis, giving his nephew a small grin.

"Well, we could talk later if you like…" offered Neville, surprised by his boldness.

"Yes, I would like that very much, Neville. Are you free after dinner? You could swing by my office."

"Yeah, alright," replied Neville.

"Great, I will see you tonight Neville."

"Right, see you then."

------

The rest of the day flew by rather quickly and now everyone was eating dinner.

"Jeeze, hungry much Neville?" replied Ron.

A few of the other Gryffindors turned towards Neville as he reached for his third helping, completely filling his plate. He wasted no time feverishly shoving the food into his mouth. He wasn't even tasting it; it was just something to silence his stomach which had been loudly growling at him all day.

"_Mmmph_…" Neville swallowed his food before continuing. "I uh, guess yeah…didn't have any lunch so yeah."

"Honestly Neville," Hermione scolded him in her motherly tone. "Slow down and chew your food."

Pretty soon the topic of conversation turned towards the students' new defense against the dark arts professor.

"So, how old is he?"

"Is he married?"

"Does he have any kids?"

"How many Death Eaters has he captured?"

Neville's fellow Gryffindors were pounding the questions on him hard after someone, who must have overheard their conversation, revealed that their new professor was Neville's long-lost uncle.

"Dunno," replied Neville, feeling slightly overwhelmed. "I'm going to talk to him some more after I finish."

"Neville, you better slow down or you're going to make yourself sick…" replied Hermione worriedly, watching him with wary eyes.

Neville brought his hands down to his stomach and groaned.

"Too late for that, I think. I'm going to go lay down for a bit."

Neville got up to leave but Hermione grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

"Wait," she replied.

She leaned in and kissed him full on the lips and then released him.

"I'll come check on you in a little bit."

Neville felt himself begin to blush and he stared at Hermione with just about the same amount of shock as everyone else. She stared back at him innocently and winked.

The whole Gryffindor table went silent and everyone was watching them.

Ron had dropped his fork which caused tiny particles of food to fly and hit Lavender in the face.

Neville politely excused himself and quickly hurried out of the Great Hall.

------

Neville did not feel well at all. He had stuffed himself to the point of exploding and on top of that was already nervous about visiting more with Francis.

"Password?" the Fat Lady called.

"Er, damn!"

"Sorry dear, but I assure you that most certainly is not it."

"No, I mean…I forgot! Argh!"

"Not again," replied the Fat Lady, shaking her head at him.

"Please let me through! This is an emergency! I promise I won't ask you again!"

"Oh alright, just don't tell anyone and don't expect any more favors…at least, not without me getting something in return one of these days," she replied with a wink.

The portrait swung open and Neville ran up to the washroom but someone was already in there so he sat down on his bed and waited patiently.

A couple of minutes later the door opened and Seamus walked out.

"Oh, Neville, you weren't waiting long were you?"

"No, just got here actually."

"Right, 'sall yours mate," replied Seamus, stepping aside to let Neville in.

Neville closed and locked the door and kneeled down over the toilet and immediately began to heave everything up. He wasn't doing this on purpose; he just had a nervous stomach was all.

He just hated the feeling of being full and not only that but the already present feelings of dread weighing down in his stomach made him feel about ten times bigger than he actually was.

As soon as he had nothing else left to heave he flushed the toilet, splashed his face with cold water and brushed his teeth. Although he was still nervous he felt so much better now.

Suddenly there was a light knock on the door.

"Everything okay in there?"

Neville opened the door and found himself face to face with Dean, which meant he must have been in there longer than he thought if everyone else was already finished with dinner.

"Sorry, I'm finished now."

"Bloody hell Neville…" Dean muttered. "You look awful."

Dean was right, Neville looked a mess. His hair was plastered to his forehead in sweaty tendrils. His face was bright red and his eyes were blood-shot.

Neville squinted at Dean as he quickly removed his glasses, bringing them down to his sweater so he could wipe the lenses. He put them back on and looked past Dean to see if anyone else was listening.

"Yeah, I uh, guess Hermione was right…you'd think I'd have learned by now not to over-do it."

"'S alright mate, happens to the best of us."

Neville gave Dean a small smile and leaned against the door frame for a moment, he was beginning to get dizzy.

"Are you alright though? D'you need to go see Madame Pomfrey?"

"Oh no, I just uh-"

"D'you think you're done…getting sick then?" Dean asked softly.

"I think so."

"Yeah, you really ought to take it slower next time, mate."

"Right, well I'm going to uh, go…see you later Dean."

Neville wanted to be sure and visit Francis before it got to be too late so he quickly grabbed his wand and went on his way.

------

**Author's Note: **I don't have much to say but if you guys do please be sure to leave me a review! Thank you for reading! :)


	5. Inquiries

**Chapter Five:** Inquiries

Neville reached Francis' office and lightly knocked on the door.

"Come on in!"

Neville opened the door and stuck his head in.

"Hello…err, sorry. I hope I'm not uh, disturbing you or anything."

"No, not at all! I was just sorting through a few things and trying to get organized. Come in and sit down."

Neville took a seat.

"So, would you like some tea? I've got some chocolate too."

"Oh, no thank you."

"Now then how has your day been?" Francis asked.

"Fine."

"Good, so I hear quidditch tryouts are soon, do you play?"

"Oh, ummm no, I'm not really so good at sports," replied Neville, feeling a blush creep up on him.

"Ah, well that's perfectly alright. There are much more important things than being an athlete."

"I uh, never knew about you," began Neville changing the subject. "I never knew Gran had any other kids. Otherwise I would have tried to contact you."

"It's quite alright, Neville. There is a lot you don't know about your grandmother. You see, before you were born and before your parents…" Francis stopped and observed the boy before continuing. "Well, anyways there was a falling out between me, mum, dad and Frank. I'd always wanted to travel the world so that is exactly what I did. One day, I just packed up all of my belongings and without telling anyone, I left."

"When was the last time you saw my Gran?"

"Oh, it's been ages. I haven't seen her in well over fifteen years and I think she'd prefer to keep it that way."

"But why? You're her son…"

"I'm afraid not…not anymore."

"What?"

Francis sighed and gave Neville a solemn look.

"She disowned me. The last words she ever spoke to me were, _'You are no longer welcome here, not now, not ever. I never want to see you again.'_ I didn't even question her. I just left and that was the last time I saw her."

"Oh…" replied Neville. "Well, would you like to see her again? I mean, that was all in the past. You can just put it all behind you can't you?"

"I would love nothing more than to see her again Neville but I'm afraid that just will not be possible."

"Why not?"

"She wouldn't have it. She meant what she said. She never wants to see me again. In fact, I am probably dead to her."

"But I'm sure she's over whatever happened. I mean, she's had plenty of time to-"

"No, I'm afraid you don't understand, Neville. It's not that simple."

Neville watched Francis carefully. Up close he looked so worn-down. As it turns out, now that Neville was seeing him up close, the professor's hair was grayer than it had appeared from a distance. The little brown that was left was mainly towards the front. And his thin face, covered with wrinkles and scars, rarely smiled, giving off the impression that he was always sad and very lonely. And his dark eyes appeared to be haunted by something.

Just by looking at him, Neville would have never guessed that he was a world renowned Auror.

Francis suddenly turned to Neville, his expression growing dark.

"How did he die?"

"Who?" questioned Neville.

"My dad…"

"Oh," replied Neville, who had been taken by surprise at the abrupt change of topic.

Before Neville could begin to explain, Francis continued.

"I first heard that he had passed from a close friend who had owled me and I refused to believe it but then it was confirmed to me days later in the Daily Prophet although it didn't say how…"

"He uh," Neville paused so he could compose himself. "He uh…killed himself." Neville finished in a whisper.

Francis' face fell and he turned completely white.

"_What_?" he gasped unable to hide his shock.

"Yeah, it was really hard on Gran and ummm she still refuses to believe that he off'd himself. She tells everyone that it was this horrible, tragic accident but I saw what really happened…I saw everything."

"My God," Francis whispered, "this is all entirely my fault…"

"N-no…"

"I can't believe it…all these years I've spent hating the old man for what he's done to our family and I end up killing him…"

"No, it's not-"

"I never even got to say good-bye. I never said good-bye to any of them. The last thing I said to your father before I left was, _'I'll see you around'_ but if I'd have known that would be the last time…I would have hugged him and told him I loved him and that I was sorry for what I did…"

Neville didn't know what to say so he just sat and continued to listen.

"Was he happy before he died…my dad?"

"Err," Neville began cautiously. "He and my Gran uh, fought a lot…he yelled a lot and he drank. Gran didn't think he was happy. Whenever she talks about him she mentions how after what happened to my parents he was never the same. She always says, _'The night your parents were attacked was the day your Grandfather died.' _She said that after that night, something in him just shut off. It was like he didn't care about anything anymore."

Francis removed his glasses and began rubbing his eyes.

"That man…" began Francis, "could be a mean, tough old son of a bitch but I loved him. He taught me everything I know…your father too."

"When was the last time you saw him?" Neville asked.

"It was after I had returned home after leaving the first time. See, I didn't tell them I was leaving so when I came back he said, _'Franny boy, if you leave don't you ever come back here showing your face again.'_ I mean, by then I had already brought so much shame to the family name and had caused so much irreversible damage that the simplest solution to me at the time seemed to be to just leave. I took the easy way out, the coward's way out."

"Do you regret leaving?" asked Neville softly.

"Everyday."

"What made you decide to come back?"

"Oh," began Francis, "Well, to be honest I got tired of being alone and when I heard that the defense against the dark arts position was open at Hogwarts I jumped at the opportunity to come home."

"Why now? Why wait so long?"

Francis stared long and hard at the floor.

"I'm still not entirely sure. I guess I was scared to have to come back and face everything and everyone I left behind."

Neville looked down at his pocket watch. It was almost midnight.

Francis took note of this and quickly apologized.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Neville. I didn't mean to unload all of this on you, believe me this wasn't my intention at all."

"'S alright."

"No, it's not alright. I wanted to talk about_ you_."

"Uh, well to be honest there isn't much to talk about…"

"Nonsense. I want to know everything."

"_Everything_?" Neville questioned.

"_Everything, _believe me I've got all the time in the world now."

"Well, what would you like to know?"

"Anything you wish to share, Neville."

"Well, I uh, really enjoy Herbology. I've even got my own personal space in the greenhouses reserved specifically for me. Not a lot of the other students go in there outside of class."

Francis watched Neville and smiled.

"Your mother loved Herbology as well…quite the green fingers our Alice had."

"Really?"

"Oh yes, she spent all of her free time in the greenhouse when we attended Hogwarts. That is actually how your parents met. Frank wasn't so gifted in Herbology and so your mother began tutoring him in our fifth year."

"Wait, I thought my parents knew each other long before then?"

"Well, I knew her long before Frank did. I was the one who suggested she tutor your father."

"Wait, how could they have not known each other before then? Weren't my parents both Gryffindors?"

No, your mother and I were in Gryffindor."

"So, then…my dad, what house was he in?"

"Frank was a Slytherin."

"Slytherin!" Neville shouted, quickly clapping a hand over his mouth.

"Yes, I'm afraid so…your father could be obnoxious, arrogant and disruptive at times, as most Slytherins are but he was not like the rest of them. Your father knew where his loyalties lay and he chose to follow a path which would help fight _for the good_ of the wizarding world…not against it."

"Wow…this is all just still a bit weird to me," replied Neville.

"I completely understand. So tell me more about yourself. You're what…seventeen now? Good heavens, it's been too long. I remember when you were first born and no parents could have ever been more proud than Frank and Alice were after you were born."

"They wouldn't have been proud for long," replied Neville sadly. "I am practically a squib. For the longest time Gran and Great-Uncle Algie feared that I was a squib and it wasn't until I was eight, when he was dangling me from outside the upstairs window by my ankles that we found out I had magic in me after all. You see, he accidentally dropped me after Great-Aunt Enid came in to offer him a piece of Lemon Meringue pie and I ended up bouncing…"

"_Really_?" replied Francis who was listening intently, both fascinated and horrified with what Neville was telling him.

"Oh, yes and that wasn't his only attempt to try and get some magic out of me either.

Another time, he dropped me into the Blackpool pier to see if I'd float and I almost drowned…"

At this Francis rolled his eyes.

"Oh dear god, now that sounds like Algie alright."

"Uncle Algie and Gran were so happy when they found out I wasn't a squib. Gran actually cried and Algie got me Trevor."

Neville reached into his pocket and pulled out Trevor and held him up for Francis to see.

A few moments of silence passed before Francis began to speak.

"I uh, read all about you and your friends' little adventure at the Department of Mysteries a couple of years back."

"Oh, that…" replied Neville blushing.

"That was very brave and your parents would have been very proud, Neville."

"Well, I didn't do much and I uh, broke Dad's wand…"

"Neville, I read the first hand account from Harry Potter himself in the papers and he said you saved his life and that it was _you_ who fought right along side him the entire time until the Order arrived."

Neville blushed.

"But I broke the prophecy…"

Francis sighed.

"That doesn't matter, what matters is that you and your friends came out of there heroes. You showed the heart of a true Gryffindor, Neville. What you accomplished that night took a certain amount of courage and strength that someone who was a near squib wouldn't have possibly ever been able to produce. So you remember that the next time you call yourself a squib."

"But I was just_ there_. It's not like they would have had any trouble managing without me," argued Neville.

"I don't believe that for one second. According to what Harry said all of your other friends had been incapacitated which means he would have been struggling to hold off a swarm of Death Eaters by himself. While I'm certain Harry is quite a talented wizard he was still quite inexperienced and for him to have been able to handle that many Death Eaters alone at that time seems almost impossible."

"Gran sure was proud she said I had finally managed to live up to the family name and that she's never been more pleased. Although, me breaking dad's wand was another story. I don't think she'll ever quite forgive me for that. She bought me a new one but I could tell she was really disappointed."

"She should have known better than to give you Frank's wand in the first place. Any good wizard or witch knows that it's the wand that chooses the wizard not the other way around."

"I guess she just thought that if I used my dad's wand I'd gain some of his strengths and become at _least_ half the wizard he was…"

"Neville, I can already tell you that you are _more_ than half the wizard your father was. You shouldn't feel bad for breaking his wand, if my mother was silly enough to send you off to battle with a wand completely useless to you then I believe she deserved for this to happen. Your grandmother is a very smart witch Neville, but she is also very selfish. She wanted so badly to hold on to a piece of Frank that would live on with you that she didn't even _think_ to realize that Frank's wand alone wouldn't have blessed you with his talent…all of that has come from here," Francis replied as he leaned forward and pointed to Neville's heart.

Neville didn't know what to say. He just sat and stared at Francis for the longest time without saying anything.

"You've always had it in you Neville, whether you realize it or not."

Neville gave his uncle a tiny smile in which he returned.

"Well, it's getting late. I really shouldn't keep you any longer. You need to get some rest."

"Alright."

"I would like to continue this with you, Neville."

"Me too."

"Well, how about the same time tomorrow? Only I'll do less talking," replied Francis with a grin.

"Alright, see you tomorrow then."

"Oh wait, Neville…no never mind. I'll wait until tomorrow to tell you."

"Alright, uh, I hope you don't think it's rude that I ask but d'you think it would be okay if I had some of that chocolate you offered me earlier?"

"No, of course not, help yourself. In fact take it all if you like. It's been a long time since dinner. And, if you're really hungry I have some taffy, caramel apples, sweet pops, rice cakes," Francis paused and then smiled up at Neville, "I've never really been one to indulge in chocolates or sweets."

Neville forced a tiny grin and began to put the chocolate pieces he had grabbed back in their original place.

"Well, it's late so maybe all of this sugar is a bad idea."

"Oh, no Neville go on ahead. You're young, you can afford to indulge."

"No, I'm fine, really."

"Neville, I insist. Here."

Francis began shoving chocolate, candy and other snacks into a sack and he got up and handed it to Neville.

"Oh no, this is…too much," Neville protested.

"Nonsense, go on. Share it with your dorm mates if you wish. I hope you sleep well."

Neville nodded and walked out.

----

Neville woke up around five a.m. and decided rather than going back to bed he'd just stay awake. He rolled out of bed as quietly as possible and got dressed. He slinked down the stairs and tiptoed out into the hall.

He would have to be careful because if he was caught he would get penalized for being outside of bed during off hours. He decided that he would go to the Astronomy tower and watch the sunrise. He hadn't done it in awhile but sometimes when he wasn't able to sleep or get back to sleep he would just sit up in the Astronomy tower to think about things.

When he finally reached the Astronomy tower and climbed up he was somewhat surprised to find that someone was already up there, in fact two someone's who happened to be snogging very heavily.

They both stopped and jumped a part from each other the second Neville appeared. He stared in surprise. Those two someones were Dean and Ginny.

"Oh, I'm sorry," mumbled Neville quietly as he began to leave.

"No, wait," called Ginny. "You don't have to leave Neville. Dean and I were about to head back inside anyways."

Dean stood up and headed for the steps.

"C'mon Gin."

"You go ahead Dean. I need to talk to Neville about something really quick."

"Alright then, you know where I'll be."

Ginny blew Dean a kiss and as soon as he caught it he flashed her one of his many charming grins and left.

"I'm sorry, Ginny. Sometimes I come up here to think and uh well, usually there is never anyone else here."

Ginny grinned widely and then began to giggle.

"Surprised that _you_ aren't the only one who sneaks around up here to snog during off hours?"

Neville wrinkled his brow and stared hard at Ginny.

Suddenly her grin began to harden and turned into a bit of a smirk.

"I saw you with Hermione up here..."

"You did? When?"

"A couple of days ago."

Neville blushed but did not say anything.

"So…is it serious then?" she asked.

"Dunno."

"It's nice out here at this time, very peaceful."

"Yeah, it really is," he replied, sitting down next to her.

Ginny turned to Neville and watched him very closely.

He was staring at his shoes like he always did. His brown hair was longer than she had ever seen it but it was still neatly combed, as usual. And since he had allowed his hair to grow longer it produced little curls all over that Ginny never knew he had.

His hands were folded neatly in his lap and he looked to be deep in thought.

"You look really good you know," said Ginny surprised to hear herself actually say this out loud.

Neville suddenly looked up at Ginny and stared at her as if she had sprouted another head. It was just about the most random thing she could have said.

Ginny continued, "Don't look so startled, it's true. Hasn't anyone told you you look good?"

Neville thought for a moment.

"Gran has…"

"I didn't get a chance to tell you that yet. Well, don't get me wrong I'm not saying you didn't look good before or anything but well, you know."

"Yeah, I get it," he replied. "I just wish I didn't have these stupid things…" he mumbled, removing his glasses so he could rub the lenses on his sweater.

Ginny continued to watch him. Neville had always been the shy, geeky type. He was very introverted and reserved, keeping to himself most of the time but not in a standoffish way. He was still very sweet, kind, friendly, polite and one of the most honest and loyal boys she had ever met.

Most boys his age, she realized were still very immature. Even her Dean could act like an eight year old sometimes but not Neville. And he never seemed to get visibly upset or angered over anything. In fact in all of the six years that Ginny had known him she had never once seen him yell or raise his voice towards anyone. He has never lost his cool or broken down and cried. In fact, she had never really seen Neville express much range of emotion ever and this puzzled her and she wanted to know why this was.

At this moment Ginny Weasley realized that there was a lot more to Neville Longbottom than what he allowed the world to see. At first glance, Neville is just a shy, clumsy, forgetful boy who seems easily unremarkable but Ginny knew better. She knew that there was more to Neville than that.

There seemed to be so much mystery to Neville and Ginny wanted to know more. She found herself becoming drawn to him and vowed to herself that she would find out everything there is to know about Neville Longbottom.

Neville sighed as they sat in silence. He stood up and walked over to the ledge and leaned against it, staring out at the sky. The wind blew his curls all over the place and in his face. He raised a hand and brushed them away.

Ginny got up and stood next to him.

"It's so wonderful up here," she replied softly.

Neville turned and smiled at her.

Ginny found herself smiling back stupidly, like a little school girl with a crush.

His glasses seemed to magnify his brown eyes which were staring into hers, his fluffy brown curls were twirling around his face and his full lips were set to a slight frown.

Ginny didn't think she had ever been this close to Neville before. She was so close that she could count every freckle on his face. Suddenly she stopped her thought process and backed away.

"Well, it's uh, I should be heading back or Dean will be worried…"

"Alright, well it's been nice talking to you Ginny."

"You too. I'll see you later."

Ginny gave him one last friendly smile and wave and turned to walk down the steps until she heard Neville clear his throat.

She looked up and saw that he had turned around to face her.

"You uh, you look good too Ginny."

Ginny's face erupted into a smile so big her face could hardly contain it.

When she didn't say anything Neville gave her a shy smile and continued.

"Don't worry. I'm saying this as a friend."

And with that he turned his back to her and walked back over to the ledge.

Ginny stood for the longest time at the top of the steps not doing anything. Finally she began walking down just as Hermione was coming out.

"Oh, hi Ginny. What are you doing up so early?"

"Uh, I was with Dean but then Neville came up and I've been having a nice chat with him."

Hermione smiled.

"Well, good."

"What about you?" asked Ginny.

"Oh, well Neville and I have been meeting up there…"

"I see," replied Ginny forcing a smile.

"Well, I'll see you later then, Ginny."

Ginny watched as Hermione climbed up the steps. Neville approached Hermione and they hugged. She continued to watch them interact for a few more minutes until she finally decided that she had had enough.

Suddenly the ring on her finger that Dean had given her for her 16th birthday had began to warm up. It was a _sodalitas ring_. Dean had an identical ring and whenever they weren't together, which was a rather rare occurrence, and one of them wanted to see the other the rings were designed to heat and light up.

Ginny looked down at her ring, it was still getting warmer and it was glowing. She began to walk faster until she reached the fat lady. She uttered the password, walked in and went straight up to the girls' dormitories.

------

**Author's Note: **Alright, so that's all I've got written so far! Chapter 6 should be following shortly. Anyways, thank you again for reading and please leave a review! :)


	6. Enlightenment

**Chapter 6:** Enlightenment

"So Neville…Ginny tells me you are trying out for the quidditch team?"

Neville's head snapped towards Dean so fast that it's a wonder he didn't get whiplash.

"Err…well, she did mention it to me but I never made any promises."

"C'mon, mate. We haven't been having much luck so far with recruiting players and we're willing to let anyone try out at this point."

"Oh, I see…" replied Neville lamely.

"You've got a little bit of bulk on you still so you could probably make a decent beater."

Neville was just about ready to take a bite of his lunch until Dean had said that.

'_Bulk? What's that supposed to mean?'_ Neville wondered defensively.

'_It means you're fat, stupid!'_

Neville set down his sandwich and frowned.

Dean saw the defeated look on Neville's face and attempted to explain himself.

"No offense mate I didn't mean to upset you…that all came out wrong. I just meant that you seem like you would be able to…well, you just seem like you'd make a good beater is all."

Hermione poked Neville in the ribs.

"Neville, eat your food before it gets cold."

"I uh, don't feel so hungry anymore."

"Are you sure?" asked Hermione, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah I'm going to go lay down for a bit before Herbology."

"Alright, I'll see you before class then."

Neville got up and headed back towards the Gryffindor common room. When he approached the fat lady his mind went blank.

"Password?" she drawled.

"Err…"

Neville couldn't believe that he still couldn't remember the password so early in the school year.

"Just give me a minute. It'll come to me."

"Rumplemintz."

Neville turned around to see Ginny walking towards him.

"Oh, that's right. Thanks Ginny."

The fat lady granted them permission to enter and they both walked into the common room and sat down in the armchairs near the fireplace.

"So, why aren't you at lunch with everyone else?" asked Neville.

"I could ask you that same question."

"Oh, well I was…" started Neville, "but I uh, sort of lost my appetite."

"So, will you be trying out for quidditch? Try-outs begin in four days."

"Oh, well actually Dean just brought it up at lunch…seems to think I'd be a good beater which I have to disagree."

Silence followed and Neville wanted to kick himself for letting it continue to waver.

"So, you and Hermione, are you two official yet?" Ginny asked, grinning wickedly.

"Oh, umm…"

"I notice you've been spending a lot of time with her…and then of course what I saw in the Astronomy tower." Ginny's face broke out into an even wider grin. "Are you two dating?"

"Uhh…I'm not sure."

"Well, have you asked her out?"

Neville began to blush.

"Well, no not exactly."

"So then what's stopping you?" she asked.

"Nothing, she uh, sort of came to me with the idea…"

"Oh, I see," replied Ginny.

Thinking that Ginny would be running off at any moment, Neville grabbed his book from the mantle and began to read.

"What are you reading?"

Neville looked up and was quite surprised to see that Ginny hadn't budged.

"Oh, uh 1001 Ways to Magically Improve Your Garden by Henchul Raven. I find it quite fascinating; I met him actually over the summer."

"Very cool," replied Ginny.

They both sat in silence for the next twenty minutes or so while Neville continued reading his book and Ginny watched on.

"Neville is there anything I can say or do to persuade you to try out for the quidditch team? I really think you'd be a great addition."

Without looking up from his book, Neville sighed.

"Ginny, I just…I'm not an athletic person. I've never been good at sports and I manage to muck up and embarrass myself enough on a daily basis so do you really think I need any more ways to possibly humiliate myself?"

Was _Neville Longbottom_ setting up and leading an argument?

Ginny couldn't help but smirk.

"Alright, you might be right but then again, so might I…so I'll make you a bet."

This immediately caught Neville's interest seeing as he put his book down and redirected his attention to Ginny.

"What kind of a bet?"

"You try out for quidditch and if it turns out you are as horrible as you say you will be, then I'll do all of your dorm duties for a week."

Neville thought about this and while he didn't mind the idea of someone else doing his chores he also found that he didn't mind doing them himself either.

"Alright," Neville agreed.

"Excellent! Well, I will fill you in on more details about try-outs later but I'm going to get ready for Charms. See you later."

Neville couldn't believe what he had just agreed to and he knew that Ginny wouldn't let him back out of it. Ginny possessed some sort of enchantment that drew Neville in like a moth to a bright light. It made him wonder what other sort of terrifying predicaments he could get himself into whenever her spellbinding influence floated near him.

------

As Ginny was exiting from the portrait, Hermione was getting ready to enter.

"Oh hello Ginny, is Neville in there by chance? I need to talk to him."

"Yes, he's reading."

Hermione could sense some awkward tension emanating from the other girl.

"Ginny is something wrong?"

"Hmm? No why do you ask?"

"No reason."

"Neville was telling me about how you asked him out…rather bold move for Hermione Granger isn't it?" Ginny teased.

"Well, yeah you should have seen the look on his face when I brought it up."

Suddenly a pang of guilt struck Hermione in her gut.

'_This isn't necessarily lying…its just exaggerating a bit, yeah. And as long as no one gets hurt then it's completely innocent.'_

"So," began Ginny. "How long have you two been…"

"Who wants to know?" replied Hermione quickly.

"Well, fine then…forget I asked," huffed Ginny.

"Did Ron put you up to this?"

Ginny pursed her lips and began rocking back and forth on her heels.

"Ginny?" prodded Hermione gently.

"Possibly…"

"Well, in that case," Hermione began. "It hasn't been too long. We kept in contact over the summer break and yeah, things just took off from there."

This hasn't been a lie. She and Neville had exchanged a couple of friendly letters over the summer break.

"_Really_?" replied Ginny looking quite surprised.

"He's just great."

"Yeah, I bet," answered Ginny.

"I don't understand how he's never had a girlfriend before. I mean, he's everything any girl could ever want in a guy. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that he's a good kisser," Hermione finished thoughtfully, thinking back to the pleasant kiss they shared in the Astronomy tower.

"Uh huh…well, that's _lovely_ Hermione. I'm happy for you."

Hermione, unconvinced by Ginny's tone, looked at her and raised her eyebrows.

"Ginny, are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes."

"Well, you just seem a little agitated."

"No, I'm just tired…long day ahead of me."

"Any luck at recruiting for the quidditch team?"

"Not really, no one seems to be all that interested this year."

"Oh, well it's still early yet, it'll get easier."

"I've convinced Neville to try-out."

"Really?"

"Yes, so you'll want to be sure and clear your plans so you can cheer him on."

"Oh, I'm sure he'll do fine," replied Hermione.

"I'm going to get going. See you later."

And with that Ginny wondered off.

Hermione entered the common room and sat down next to Neville.

"Why didn't you tell me you were trying out for the quidditch team?"

"Oh well, Ginny sort of tricked me into it by making a bet. If I do horribly she said she'd do my dorm duties for a week."

"Well, I think you'll do fine. Are you ready to go to Herbology?"

"Yeah."

------

"Fifty points from Gryffindor for negligence."

It was official, Neville wanted to die. Snape had managed to humiliate him yet again in front of the entire class. He had screwed up another potion so badly that not even Hermione could help him out of it.

He hated the fact that the rest of the Gryffindors had to suffer this loss due to such a stupid mistake on his part.

His day had been going pretty well so far until potions of course. He preferred it on the days where potions was his first lesson of the day so then he could get it over with and have the rest of the day to look forward to. Today potions happened to be the last lesson of the day.

'_Only you could manage to screw up a potion designed for third years to master.'_

Snape tore his beady black eyes away from Neville and began to pace back and forth.

"Tomorrow you will be tested on everything you have learned about Wolfbane potion, including actually concocting a vial of it. For those of you who have trouble paying attention," with this Snape's eyes fell upon Neville again. "I would suggest that you either give up now or spend the next fourteen hours in the library relearning everything."

Neville began to blush.

"Don't worry Neville, I'll help you." Hermione hissed into his ear.

"Class dismissed," drawled Snape as he hurriedly exited the dungeon.

Everyone jumped up and filed out the door except for Neville who lagged behind.

"Neville, c'mon dinner," replied Hermione, tugging on his robes.

"I'm not hungry. I think I'm going to go lay down."

"Well, you have to eat _something_…" she argued.

"I'll go to the kitchen later and get some leftovers, right now I just need to rest. Public humiliation from Snape can really take a lot out of you."

Harry was still standing in the dungeon doors waiting for them.

"Okay, if you change your mind make sure to come eat some dinner."

Neville nodded and began to walk the opposite way as Hermione followed Harry to the Great Hall. Neville made his way back to the common room, trudged up the stairs to the boys' dormitories and flopped down on his bed.

He felt miserable. He just wanted to disappear, kind of like Francis did. Maybe one of these days Neville would just pack up everything and leave without telling anyone and just start over. Adapt a whole new persona, a whole new way of living; a fresh start to make things better, where no one would know of him and his various blunders.

His stomach growled which brought him to remember the sack of sweets that Francis had given him last night. He had almost completely forgotten about it.

He reached under his bed and pulled the sack up and set it down in front of him.

Everything looked very tempting. He knew he shouldn't but he couldn't help himself. He wanted to eat everything in that sack. He began rummaging through the sack and grabbed various items, furiously ripping off the wrappers and shoving them down his throat.

After he had gotten about half way through the sack he felt his stomach begin to fill up and expand, it was telling him to stop and that it had had enough but he couldn't stop. He continued to rapidly devour the contents of the sack until finally there was nothing left.

He had gone through a whole sack full of fatty snacks, everything from chocolates to sugar pops, taffy, rice cakes, caramel apples, twister wands and much much more.

Neville's stomach began to lurch in protest as he looked around, aghast at the mess he had made.

Wrappers of all kinds now littered his bed and the floor, while crumbs and other scraps of sweets that had missed his mouth surrounded him. Gran had raised him to be very neat so he knew better than to leave a mess. If he were ever to do this at home he'd be scolded and sent to his room for the rest of the day. He began to gather up all of the wrappers and put them back in the sack which he placed under his bed. He brushed all of the crumbs away and fell back on his mattress with a loud thud.

He felt so sickened with himself. He alone had just consumed probably a half stone worth of candy. No wonder he had always been so fat his entire life.

He slowly got up and entered the washroom. He shut and locked the door and kneeled down in front of the toilet allowing everything to come up almost instantly.

It took a number of heaves to get everything up but he had been successful. Once he was satisfied and sure that there was nothing left in him he allowed himself to take a breather. He leaned back against the wall and wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

He wasn't doing this on purpose, he had just overindulged due to a hunger fueled binge and his stomach couldn't handle it. He had just overdone it on the sweets and got sick, nothing more.

'_You're still fat and you always will be. It doesn't matter how much you weigh. You'll always be fat to me.'_

He stared at the syrupy, multicolored mess splattered all along the inside of the toilet bowl, quietly sloshing back and forth in the water.

The sweet aroma of candy along with the acidic odor of vomit lingered in the air and found its way to his nostrils, which caused his eyes to water even more.

His head was throbbing and his throat felt as if it were on fire.

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by heavy knocking on the door.

"Just a second!" Neville shouted.

Apparently Neville had been too preoccupied to realize that Ron had been knocking on the door for the past ten minutes.

"You've been in there for ages, now open up! Other people have to go in!"

"Okay, hold on!"

Neville flushed the toilet and slowly pushed himself up off the floor. He stuck his head under the faucet and then he quickly brushed his teeth.

Finally, he opened the door and found himself face to face with Ron who appeared more than slightly annoyed. He lightly pushed Neville out of the way and made his way in.

"Finally!" he muttered before he slammed the door shut.

Harry, Seamus and Dean, who were all sitting on the floor looking at Seamus' souvenirs from India stopped what they were doing and stared at him.

Apparently he had lost track of the time.

"What time is it?" Neville asked.

"'S about eight," replied Harry.

"What were you doing in there?" asked Dean.

"I thought I'd have a bath."

"There wasn't any water running," replied Dean, eyeing Neville suspiciously.

"Well, you must not have been in here yet then…"

"If you say so."

Neville cursed himself. Although he was pretty sure he had been careful enough to keep quiet, he'd have to remember to place a silencing charm next time just to be safe. Not that he was planning on there being a next time but just in case there happened to be.

They all turned towards the washroom as the door opened and Ron walked out.

"Do us all a favor mate," began Ron to Neville. "Next time you plan on being in there leave a note or something letting us know how long you plan on taking."

Neville blushed.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"Say," began Ron observing Neville more closely. "Why are your eyes all red? Have you been crying?"

"Uh, no allergies."

Ron shrugged it off and quickly rejoined the others.

Neville mumbled a quick bye and quickly scampered out of the dorm.

------

As Neville made his way down to the common room he suddenly remembered that he was supposed to meet with Francis again tonight.

He ran back up to the dorms, grabbed his wand and made his way to Francis' office.

He knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

Neville shut the door behind him and took a seat.

"Good evening, Neville. How was your day?"

"Oh, uh it was alright."

"Glad to hear."

"So, Profess- I mean, Francis…have you visited my parents?"

"No, I'm afraid I haven't."

Neville fell silent and stared down at his feet.

"Neville, there's something that I was going to tell you last night…"

"Yes?"

"Well when you asked me why I've only now just decided to come back, I wasn't completely honest with you in my reply."

Neville looked up at the older man, anxiously awaiting an explanation.

"You see, Albus Dumbledore asked me to return and join the Order."

"The Order of the Phoenix…" Neville finished.

"Yes and of course while I felt honored to have one of the greatest wizards of our time asking me, of all aurors to join his organization I had my doubts. You see, when he first asked me to join I had just graduated from Hogwarts but my aspirations lead me elsewhere down a different road. Frank felt betrayed when I declined the offer and we became even more estranged. So when Albus contacted me again I immediately packed my bags. I wasn't about to make the same mistake twice."

"So, you've joined the Order then?"

Francis smiled.

"Yes, although about twenty years too late I'm afraid."

"Better late than never though, right?" Neville replied.

"Neville, that's not the only other reason I returned," he began, his tone lowering.

Neville's heart sunk into the pit of his stomach.

"This is um; rather difficult for me to have to tell you Neville but it can not wait any longer. You are old enough to know and have a right to know-"

"Know what?" Neville interrupted, unable to contain himself.

"Remember the prophecy that the Death Eaters were desperately trying to get a hold of in the Department of Mysteries?"

"Yes…"

"Well, Voldemort ordered them to retrieve it for him. You see, this prophecy is quite a useful tool for him. It was the one thing he didn't have seventeen years ago when he failed to murder Harry Potter."

"I-I'm afraid I don't understand," began Neville nervously. "What's this got to do with me?"

"_Everything_ Neville; there were two infant boys who fit the contents of the prophecy…born to those who have thrice defied the Dark Lord and born as the seventh month dies."

Neville's eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped open.

"No…but h-he chose Harry? Didn't he?"

"He did mark Harry as his equal Neville, but the reason he wanted the prophecy was because he never got to hear it in its entirety. Now that he knows there is another threat out there looming towards him, he won't stop until he figures out who is the bigger threat."

Neville felt himself go into shock. He couldn't believe this was happening.

"Neville?"

"Did Gran know about this…?"

"Yes but she was ordered by Dumbledore not to say anything to you."

Neville suddenly began to feel strange; a wave of darkness began to wash over him. He felt his entire body begin to twitch and it was as if a caged beast that had been locked away for years was about ready to break out of him.

Francis, noticing that the boy was struggling with what he had just been told, got up and kneeled down in front of the boy.

"Neville?" he tilted the boy's head up.

Neville turned his gaze to the older man and the fire inside of him burned higher.

For a split second, Francis was quite alarmed by the look in the boy's eyes. They had almost gone black and burned into him. He could see the pain and the anger and the fire reflecting in them.

"I know you must be feeling very angry but you must fight this, Neville. You can not let yourself be overcome with these negative feelings. You must not allow yourself to be controlled by it; this is how Voldemort wants you to feel. You must fight it Neville."

"Why wasn't I told before now?"

Francis sighed.

"Albus wanted to protect you."

"Protect me?!" Neville shouted, practically jumping out of his own skin at the sound of his own voice amplified. "Protect me?" He repeated loudly.

His blood continued to boil.

"It's alright. You have every right to be upset. It isn't fair but you need to know. You need to be prepared."

"For what?"

Francis grabbed the boy's shoulders and looked him right in the eye.

"Voldemort."

A shiver ran down Neville's spine and his blood suddenly ran cold.

"I'm here to protect you and to teach you along with Harry everything there is to know about advanced dark magic. You need to know how to defend yourselves and how to fight properly. This is far beyond what I'll be teaching during your defense against the dark arts lessons, this is some of the darkest, most complicated and forbidden magic known to the wizarding world. It is a matter of life and death."

Neville felt as if he was going to be sick. The room began to spin and he felt himself sliding down his seat.

"Not only are you in danger now but everyone else around you as well."

"I-I need to go."

"Neville, listen to me. I'm sorry that you had to hear this from me but this is extremely important. We may have a long ways to go before you can fully trust me and I understand that, it will take time but the one person who you need to trust in now more than anyone is yourself."

"D-does this mean…that I'm marked as well?"

Francis slowly nodded his head.

"Only not as his equal but as a threat so severe that he will allow nothing to stand in his way and will do everything in his power to destroy you."

Neville pulled himself upright back into a sitting position and wiped his sweaty palms on his pants.

"So, what am I supposed to do? I-I'm not…I'm not meant to be a hero. I'm not strong enough to do this! Why me? _Why me_?"

"You are strong Neville. You just have to find the strength inside of you. You need to gain some confidence in yourself and put forth every ounce of fight you have in you. Whatever it was that came out of you during the battle at the Department of Mysteries, you need to find that and grab hold of it. You've got it in you lad, it's just hidden. We need to find a way to unleash it."

Neville closed his eyes.

'_This is just a nightmare. I'm going to wake up and be in my bed.'_

Neville opened his eyes. He was still in Francis' office.

He looked down at his pocket watch. It was 11:25.

"I-I need to sleep," he replied, standing up.

And he walked out the door without so much as a word or glance back.

------

**Author's Note: **Alright, so yes! Finally we are getting to the good stuff! Told ya'll it'd get better! Alright, so please leave reviews, feedback, anything! Chapter 7 to follow soon. :)


	7. Secretion

**Chapter 7:** Secretion

Three days had passed since Francis revealed to Neville how very close he was to being marked as Voldemort's equal. And although he hadn't been marked as his equal, he had been marked as a high risk threat that Voldemort would stop at nothing to destroy. Neville still refused to believe this was true. It couldn't possibly be.

He hadn't talked to Francis since that night and he had been successful in avoiding him. And Francis did not try to approach Neville during this time, he knew better. He knew that Neville would need his space and that he would come to him whenever he was ready.

Other than finding out that he was linked to the prophecy, the past three days had actually been rather decent for Neville. Of course, the highlight of it all had been the look on Professor Snape's face when he came to discover that Neville had successfully brewed the Wolfsbane potion, and he wouldn't have been able to do it without Hermione's help. She had stayed up with him all night, going over the process step by step until Neville knew it by heart.

His Astronomy lesson had just ended and he was now heading to the Gryffindor common room to relax and maybe read some more of his book.

"Password dear?" called the Fat Lady.

"Rumplemintz."

The portrait swung forward and Neville entered and was greeted with the sound of swelling voices which were growing louder with each step he took.

Neville made his way over to the fireplace and found that the voices belonged to Dean and Ginny.

Dean glared at Neville as if it were his fault for walking in on such a private moment rather than considering the fact that they were arguing in a very public place.

"C'mon, Ginny; let's go somewhere more private. We need to talk about this."

"No, maybe I don't want to. Maybe I want to be alone."

"Fine. You know what, Ginny? Have it your way, like always."

And with that Dean angrily stormed out of the common room.

Neville's cheeks burned and he wasn't sure whether he should stay and console Ginny or make a run for the dorm.

"Neville, it's alright. I meant I needed to be alone as in away from him."

"Oh," began Neville. "Are you alright?"

Ginny looked up.

"I'm fine, just a little squabble with Dean."

She patted the empty space next to her.

"Sit down," she replied.

So he did.

"Excited about try-outs tomorrow?" she teased. "Don't think I've forgotten."

"Uh, sure," he replied.

Ginny sighed.

"Sometimes I wish I didn't have a boyfriend," she stated softly, turning to gaze at Neville. "I miss having the freedom that comes along with being single."

"Who says you still can't have that freedom even with a boyfriend?"

Ginny suddenly bounced up from her slouched position and sat upright.

Her brown eyes locked onto his and she waited intently for him to continue.

"Well, I mean I don't understand why just because you are dating someone it becomes sort of like, an anchor that keeps you from moving. Like you become stuck and are unable to go anywhere. Who says it has to be like that?"

Ginny's face broke out into a wide grin.

"Well, obviously it's different with boys, Neville. Unless you've dated one you won't really know."

"What do you mean?" asked Neville.

"Well, boys like to be dominate and have the control. And it's just really hard sometimes for me to realize that. I just sometimes feel like I'm not allowed to be my own person…"

"Well, then I think maybe you're dating the wrong people." Neville suddenly stopped himself and felt his cheeks burning up even more than before. He was shocked at what he had just said and rather _who_ he'd said it to. He quickly glanced at Ginny; who was patiently waiting for him to continue.

"Err, that came out wrong. What I meant to say was that you should never feel like you aren't allowed to be your own person. You should feel empowered and encouraged by the person you are dating. They should always allow you to be yourself yet help you to learn more about yourself along the way."

Ginny sat for a minute and pondered what Neville had just said.

"You know Neville, you're absolutely right."

"Well, I don't know about that…"

"No really, that's very good advice."

Neville cleared his throat and wondered if he should change the subject but before he could, Ginny continued.

"I care about Dean so much it's just that-" she stopped and bit her lip. "He's too demanding about certain things and he is suffocating me. I mean, I need my own personal space to just think and be with my friends! I don't think he trusts me very much either…"

"What makes you think that?" questioned Neville.

"Just a feeling I get," she answered sadly.

Neville hadn't noticed until now just how sad Ginny really did look most of the time since the school year had begun. She hadn't quite been herself lately and was less talkative and absent more from the majority of group activities.

Ginny sighed and began to rub the fabric of her skirt between her fingers.

Neville impulsively reached out to grab her hand but stopped himself just in time and instead made it play out as if he were reaching for his book, which had conveniently been placed on the stand right beside Ginny.

"Well, anyways try-outs are tomorrow at 6:00. Make sure you show up a half-hour early so we can get you fitted with proper gear and give you a little bit of time to practice."

Before Neville could reply Ginny got up and exited the common room.

------

The rest of the day moved rather quickly and Neville was starved.

By the time he reached the Great Hall for dinner everyone else had already been eagerly enjoying their meals and chatting amongst each other.

He sat down, grabbed a plate and began filling it with food. He didn't even care, let alone look to see what exactly he piled on his plate. He just began randomly grabbing everything that was within his reach.

"Where have you been?" Hermione hissed as he sat down.

"Greenhouse."

He ended up with four slices of turkey, five slices of ham, a huge mountain of mashed potatoes drenched with gravy, two pieces of corn on the cob, a piece of corn bread, a slab of pumpkin pie, and a chocolate brownie.

Neville was almost positive that all eyes were on him and his enormous serving but he didn't care. He didn't care who was watching him or what they thought; at least for the time being. He didn't wait a second longer to wolf down his food and it wasn't even five minutes before he was already working on seconds.

The Gryffindors went about their usual conversations although peeking a side glance towards Neville every few minutes to see if he would dare go for thirds, which he did.

"Uh, Neville, might want to slow down mate…'member what happened last time?" replied Dean cautiously, who seemed to have already gotten over Neville's intrusion on him and Ginny earlier.

"_Mmmmph_," Neville mumbled. "Yeah. I know," he finished blushing.

"Whoa, Neville you've eaten enough food to feed Dumbledore's army!" Seamus exclaimed. He was joking of course but the comment had still stung.

Neville forced a tiny grin and then swallowed the last mouthful of food.

His plate was finally empty but his stomach, on the other hand was not.

He could feel his stomach bloat and begin spilling over the top of his trousers.

It was a very uncomfortable feeling.

"Well, I'm off," replied Neville hurriedly, hoping everyone else was too distracted to question him.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Hermione asked.

"To the library," he lied.

"Oh, well, if you wait just a second I'll go with you. I need to finish that paper for Flitwick."

'_Great idea, stupid!'_

"Actually, you know what…I can go to the library later. I think right now I'm going to go lay down…"

"Okay," she replied, appearing very confused and watching him intently.

Neville excused himself and left.

"You'd think he hadn't eaten in weeks…" muttered Dean the second Neville ran off, "the way he was just lunging for all of that food _like an animal_."

------

Neville practically ran all the way to the Gryffindor corridor.

"Password?" called the Fat Lady.

"Rumplemintz!"

The second the portrait swung open Neville dashed up the stairs and flung himself into the washroom, locking the door and placing a silencing charm around the room.

He knelt down in front of the toilet and everything came up instantly.

Deep down he knew that he shouldn't be doing this but he couldn't help it. He wasn't doing it on purpose; in fact it wasn't even him doing it. It was his stomach, informing him that it couldn't handle that much food but did Neville ever listen?

Plus, on a positive note at least he wouldn't have to worry about gaining any weight due to his sloppy, grobbling and uncontrollable appetite.

He coughed and sputtered as his undigested food made its way up his throat. Sometimes it would take more than one try and he would have to allow for the food to slink back down into his stomach and start over again but it was always worth it. His throat began to burn and it felt raw but he didn't stop, he wasn't even close to being finished.

After a few dry heaves he found that he had reached an untimely plateau; the remainder of food refused to rise but he wasn't about to give up. He knew if he didn't get the rest up he'd begin to panic, so he brought a shaky hand up to his mouth and shoved two fingers as far down his throat as they could go.

It had been a long time since he even had to use his fingers. Most of the time all he had to do was simply enter the washroom, kneel in front of the toilet and everything would come up on its own.

Neville began to feel a tickle in the back of his throat that caused him to choke.

He removed his fingers from his throat so he could catch his breath.

He stared down at his fingers which were wet, shiny and dripping with saliva and particles of food. It was disgusting but at the same time it was mesmerizing.

He could hear his heart pounding in his ears and he suddenly felt a rush of adrenaline. He got himself into position and prepared to go again.

He leaned over the toilet bowl and heaved. More of his dinner tumbled out of his mouth and plopped into the water, causing little droplets to shower his face.

He felt excited for a split second until he was reminded of how much he had actually just eaten in front of everyone and the looks that his fellow Gryffindors were giving him and the way they all timidly snuck glances at each other when they thought he wasn't looking. That is when the shame began to set in.

'_They must all think I'm a pig.'_

'_You are a pig! You ate a three course meal in one sitting! Now just sit back and let it turn to fat. You are weak and that is all you will ever be.'_

He slid his fingers down his throat once more. He was going to get everything up even if it took all night.

He heaved and heaved and heaved until he was blue in the face. The sound of his heart pounding in his ears was so loud that he thought he would go insane.

He heaved once more and when nothing came up he was finally satisfied. He stood up and wobbled over to the sink. He avoided looking into the mirror because he knew exactly what he would see. Someone he didn't recognize.

He removed his glasses so he could rub the lenses off on his sweater and quickly glanced into the mirror. His hair was plastered to his forehead and dripping with sweat, his face was beet red and he had veins popping out everywhere, due to the strain he had put on himself. His eyes were watery, puffy and bloodshot and his nose was running profusely.

He grabbed some toilet paper and wiped his nose. Then he held his hands under the faucet and splashed cold water on his face and rubbed the back of his neck. He brushed his teeth and decided that he was in need of a nice, long bath. He needed to relax, especially since he was so nervous about quidditch try-outs tomorrow. So he figured he'd go down to the prefect's washroom on the fifth floor.

Once again, Neville had completely lost track of time because when he opened the door Harry, Ron and Seamus were all huddled on Ron's bed and were playing a game of exploding snap.

"Finally! Remember what I told you last time about giving everyone else some kind of notice?" Ron began standing up. "Look, I don't know what it is you do in there nor do I want to know…but honestly."

He walked into the washroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

Neville sat down on his bed, staring at the floor dejectedly.

"Want to join us? We could use another player?" asked Harry.

"No thanks…"

"Are you okay?" Harry continued, observing his shy friend with worry.

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?" Harry prodded. "You were in there an awfully long time…"

"Yeah, 'mfinethanks," muttered Neville, wishing Harry would just drop it.

Neville gave a quick good-bye and then hurried off to the prefect's washroom before anyone else could question him.

------

Neville wasted no time getting undressed and starting the bath. He turned the knobs and waited until the bubbles were practically overflowing from the tub before he got in.

He stuck one foot in to test the water and found that it was a bit warm but he didn't want to wait too long and have the water get too cold. So he got in and could feel his tension begin to release. He removed his glasses, closed his eyes and sat back.

He knew that he wasn't supposed to be in here and that it was for prefects and quidditch captains only, but _everyone _who wasn't a prefect or quidditch captain had snuck in to have a bath at least once, well almost everyone. He didn't want to risk getting caught so he needed to make sure he didn't lose track of time as he was used to doing.

Suddenly his thoughts turned to Ginny and the nice, longer visits they had been sharing lately, particularly the one up in the Astronomy tower about a week ago. She looked as beautiful as ever and she was _right_ there in front of him but she wasn't his to have, she wasn't his to touch.

Neville supposed that he was lucky to have even gotten _that_ amount of time with her no matter how short it was. All that mattered was that she had stayed behind and talked to him _willingly_. She had wanted to stay and talk to him.

Not a day went by where Neville didn't think of Ginny at least once; whether it was about her fiery red hair, her soft brown eyes, her delicate round mouth, her sprinkle of brown freckles, her laugh or even the smell of her perfume.

Neville knew that he would never have a chance with Ginny Weasley and he was finally starting to accept it. He would always just be the goofy friend who everyone could count on and in a way Neville knew that this is what he was meant to be because he most certainly wasn't meant to be a hero.

This brought him back to what Francis had revealed to him about the prophecy three days ago. It still seemed unreal, as if he had just dreamed it. He felt bad about avoiding Francis but he needed time to think everything over. After all, it wasn't everyday you were told you have been marked by someone evil and they are currently plotting on how to destroy you. Neville decided that he would pay Francis a visit tomorrow after his try-out.

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by the highest, squeakiest wail he had ever heard in his life. He jolted and began looking around fretfully trying to find the source of the noise. He grabbed his glasses and put them back on his face.

"Who's there?" he called out.

The loud, shrill giggle began again only this time it was closer.

"Hello?" he called out again.

Suddenly he felt the tub begin to bubble over.

"What the-"

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Out of nowhere something leapt out of the tub causing a major splash. The water began to swirl and slosh from side to side and some of it splattered over the side of the tub and onto the floor. The bubbles were starting to disappear as well, which was bad for Neville.

"Hello?" Neville called again.

"Hello," answered a shrill female voice.

"Who are you?"

"The question isn't_ who_ am I…but rather _where_ am I?"

"Errr…" began Neville.

"My my my…the view is quiet nice from where I'm at!"

Neville began turning around looking towards the voice and when he couldn't see anyone he covered himself and was about to get out when the owner of the voice showed herself.

"No! Don't go, I was only having a little bit of fun…"

"Myrtle…isn't it?" asked Neville, eyeing the ghost awkwardly.

"Yes, you remembered!"

"Right…"

Moaning Myrtle began flying about giddily.

"Well, I know _of _you," replied Neville.

"Oh, what do they say about me?"

"_They _as in?"

"They, them, the people who currently attend Hogwarts."

"Oh, just that you are lonely."

"All I ever wanted was a true friend. Is that so much to ask?" Myrtle whined.

"No, 'course not," answered Neville truthfully.

"Anyways, I've seen you in here before…"

"When?"

"A couple of times late last year, you came in here to throw up."

Neville's heart skipped a beat.

Had she really seen him?

"Don't worry I won't tell anyone. I knew a lot of girls who did that when I was still alive…"

Neville felt himself blush. He was beginning to feel very uncomfortable. He didn't know whether it was the way she was looking at him and trying to cop a look at his nether regions or that she had seen him in here before, but all he knew was that he wanted to get the hell out of there fast, no questions asked.

"Well, you see it's late and I should probably get back to the dorms before I get caught."

"But no one ever comes down here to these parts…" Myrtle purred.

"Err, well I don't want to take any chances."

"No one ever comes to visit stupid, old Myrtle. You're the first person I've come across in at least, pretty close to a year and now you are going to leave me? Just like they all do!"

"Well, I'm sorry…Myrtle, but I don't want to get in trouble. I'm not even supposed to be in here."

"Yes, that's what they all say. Mmhmmm…"

"Well, but it's true. If I lose any more points for Gryffindor then my house mates will murder me."

"Alright, so if you're going to leave then leave."

"Well, I'm not finished yet."

And with that Neville quickly lathered his hair and then rinsed.

"Okay, now uh, turn around," he warned.

"Oh, don't mind me…" replied Myrtle.

"Well, I can't get out if you are watching me."

"Why not? It's not like you've got anything I haven't seen before," she replied with a wicked grin.

"Right…well, please just turn around."

"Fine, I'll close my eyes."

Myrtle was floating a few mere inches away from Neville and she put her hands in front of her eyes. So Neville took this as an opportunity to jump out and put his bathrobe on but he wasn't quick enough because Myrtle peeked through her hands and shrieked with delight at the sight displayed before her.

"Oh my!"

Neville blushed and quickly threw on his bathrobe.

Myrtle let out another high pitched giggle and floated closer to Neville.

"You know, I've always wondered if Gryffindors had enough house _pride_ and well, at least you do!"

"I really must be going…it's been nice talking to you."

"Wait, don't leave! Please? I get so lonely and that old meanie Peeves always comes in here and makes fun of me. Just stay a few more minutes? It's nice to be in such good company."

"Alright, but only for a few more minutes."

Neville sat down on the top step leading up to the tub and pulled his bathrobe down making sure it covered everything.

"So are you still making yourself throw up?" Myrtle asked in a lively tone as if she were simply asking how the weather was outside.

Neville was thrown off by the question and could only sit there and stammer for a few moments before he finally spat the words out.

"E-excuse me?"

"Well, towards the end of last year you were coming in here at least three times a day, sometimes four, to make yourself throw up and I haven't seen you since last year."

"No, I never…it was just, I have a _very_ nervous stomach is all."

"So then why did you have your fingers down your throat?"

"I-I should go now…"

"No, please! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. Please don't leave."

"No, really I should be going; maybe I'll see you again sometime."

Neville quickly grabbed his pajamas and ran out before Myrtle had a chance to try and persuade him into staying.

------

When Neville had reentered the Gryffindor common room, he was rather surprised to see how many people were down there. Usually at this time the majority of everyone had retreated to their dormitories.

"Oy, Neville! Decide to have a bath in the prefect's washroom?" Seamus called out.

"Yeah."

Parvati looked up from her quiet conversation with Dean and raised an eyebrow at the sight of Neville, clad in only his bathrobe, which was disheveled and already falling off of his shoulders.

He quickly ran up to the dorm and changed into his pajamas and came back downstairs to see if anything interesting was going on.

Ron and Lavender were snogging heavily on the couch; Harry and Seamus were playing a game of wizard's chess. Parvati and Dean had continued to talk quietly amongst themselves and Hermione and Ginny were nowhere to be found.

He wondered where they were.

That question was soon answered when Hermione entered a couple of minutes later.

"Neville, there you are! I've been looking all over for you! Where were you?"

Suddenly Ron and Lavender both popped up over the couch and were now snogging vertically rather than horizontally.

"Oh, I had a bath in the prefect's washroom."

"Can we talk in private?"

At this, Ron tore himself away from Lavender and watched as Neville and Hermione exited the common room.

They stood out in the hall, making sure they were far out of ear reach from the Fat Lady as she liked to eavesdrop on passing conversations.

"So, I'm thinking that we should go ahead and come out with the truth and tell everyone that we're not really dating."

Neville was rather shocked at this but ultimately agreed with her.

"Okay, so how do we do that without looking like complete idiots?" he challenged.

Hermione bit her lip.

"Good point…well, it looks like we're just going to have to stage a break-up."

"Uhh, what?"

"Well, I'll come up with something and fill you in tomorrow. Oh, don't you have your quidditch try-out tomorrow?"

"Yes," mumbled Neville, disappointed by the fact that he had been reminded.

"Well, I'll come watch you and then we can stage the break-up to take place after that because everyone will be in the common room afterward."

Neville wasn't going to argue with Hermione.

"Well, that's not all I wanted to talk to you about," she admitted.

Neville looked up.

"Are you feeling okay? I'm concerned because you're starting to fall a little behind in our lessons and I don't think you're eating enough…which is why I think you ultimately end up over-doing it later on in the day to the point where you're miserable. I know you must be really stressed out about a lot of things, like _us_, Ginny, quidditch and Francis but you need to make sure you're still taking care of yourself. I don't want you to get run down like I did in our third year when McGonagall gave me that time turner."

"Oh, well I'm fine," he replied.

"Okay, well if you ever want to talk I'll listen."

"Thanks Hermione."

And with that they both retreated back into the common room.

------

**Author's Note:** Alright, I hope the buildup to this story isn't too terribly despicable! :( I'm trying to move at a nice, even pace and include good characterization of everyone while at the same time keeping them in character. It's definitely quite the challenge! Next up, chapter 8! Again, thanks for reading- don't forget to review! :)


	8. Incitement

**Chapter 8:** Incitement

"Alright, today we are going to make things more interesting by having ourselves a little wizard's duel involving what we have learned so far. The winner of each individual duel will then continue on to duel another winner until there is one declared champion. So go ahead and pair up and we'll get started."

Francis sat down and waited patiently as the class partnered up.

"Alright is everyone paired up? Do we have any volunteers who would like to go first?"

The entire class looked around at each other wondering who would be the first to go.

Surprisingly, even Hermione's hand failed to fly up, for which Neville was very grateful.

"No one? Oh, c'mon. If no one volunteers then I will be forced to choose the lucky pair."

Still, no one offered to volunteer.

"Alright then, how about Mr. Vondoren and Ms. Miller?

Hector Vondoren and Valerie Miller were both seventh year Hufflepuffs. Neville had seen them quite a bit in the halls together and assumed they were dating but other than that had never spoken to either of them.

Hector was very large and intimidating while Valerie was very delicate and cute.

They both exchanged fervent smirks and went up to the front of the class.

"Alright, go ahead and take your positions," began Francis.

They both moved away from each other and each took a side. They steadied their bodies and drew their wands.

"Now when I say you may begin."

Both duelers had their wands out, ready to fire as the class watched on, on the edge of their seats.

Francis leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on his desk.

While trying hard not to break eye contact, both students snuck timid glimpses at their professor, waiting for him to give his cue.

"Oh, how silly of me! Begin!"

"CONFUNDUS!"

"EXPELIARMUS!"

They both bellowed out their attacks simultaneously although Hector, who moved very quickly for being so large, dodged Valerie's confundus charm and easily caught her wand.

Suddenly Neville's heart began to race. If all of the duels were this short then that gave him less time to mentally prepare for his own.

"Ah, very well done. Mr. Vondoren please come stand over by my left and Ms. Miller, thank you. You may return to your seat."

Valerie's entire face went red as she went to sit back down.

'_I'll be lucky if I last longer than she did…'_

'_Are you kidding? You aren't even a worthy enough opponent! You shouldn't even be here right now, squib!'_

"Next?" called Francis eagerly.

Padma Patil and another seventh year Ravenclaw by the name of Ursela Redmont slowly raised their hands.

"Excellent! Ms. Patil and Ms. Redmont! Please take your places."

They both made their way to the front of the class and got into position.

"Begin!"

"ENGORGIO!"

"STUPEFY!"

Padma dodged Ursela's attack and had successfully hit Ursela's wand hand with the engorgio charm. Ursela watched in horror as her hand began to enlarge. It continued to swell up until it was three times its normal size.

"FLIPENDO!" Ursela countered back while Padma was momentarily distracted by her enlarged hand.

Padma was caught off guard and flew back, colliding with a bookshelf.

"REDUCIO!"

Ursela's hand shrank back to its normal size and she was quick to act before Padma could recover.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

Ursela took her time walking over to Padma's lifeless form and delightfully plucked the wand out of her opponent's hand and ended the duel with a curtsy.

"Nicely done, Ms. Redmont. Please, if you would mind taking your place next to Mr. Vondoren. Relashio!"

Suddenly Padma, who appeared very cross, sprang up from her body bind and brushed herself off.

"Thank you, Padma. You may return to your seat. Next volunteers?"

Following after her sister, Parvati Patil along with Lavender Brown raised their hands.

"Ah, very good. Ms. Patil and Ms. Brown. Please find your places."

Parvati got up and took her place while Lavender lagged behind to receive a few encouraging last words from Ron.

At this Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Oh, get on with it would ya!" someone called out.

Lavender gave Ron a quick kiss on the nose and finally took her place.

"BEGIN!"

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

Both of the girls' wands flew out of each other's hands and they each ended up with the other's wand.

They both exchanged puzzled glances before attempting to attack.

"STUPEFY!"

Lavender screamed and ducked out of the way just in time.

"AVIFORS!"

Suddenly the ribbons in Parvati's hair transformed into two small birds which began to wildly flap their wings and get tangled in her hair.

Parvati dropped Lavender's wand and began swatting at the birds.

Lavender quickly pointed Parvati's own wand at her feet.

"ACCIO WAND!"

Lavender's wand flew up off the floor and back into her outstretched hand.

Francis stood up and began to clap.

"Very well done, both of you. Very clever form of attack Ms. Brown."

Francis countered Lavender's charm and the birds flapping around Parvati's head suddenly disappeared.

Lavender beamed and wasted no time throwing herself at Ron, nearly knocking him out of his seat.

"OH, WON-WON! I DID IT!"

Ron's face turned scarlet and while he kindly tried to push Lavender off of him, Hermione sneered and shot him a look as if to say, _"Well, that's what you get…"_

"Ms. Patil, you may return to your seat and Ms. Brown you may come up here and join the others."

Lavender planted a few more loud kisses all over Ron's face and took her place beside Ursela.

"And up next we have…?"

Luna Lovegood and Michael Corner raised their hands.

"Ms. Lovegood and Mr. Corner, please take your places. And go!"

Neville was rooting for Luna not only because she was his friend but because he still held a long standing grudge against Michael Corner for stealing Ginny away from him at the Yule ball in his fourth year. Okay, that sounded rather possessive of him but that didn't change the fact that Michael Corner had ruined what could have possibly been the best night of Neville's life. Michael just had to butt in and sweep Ginny off her feet. That was supposed to have been _Neville's night,_ his _moment _but like many other occurrences in his life, it ended up with him feeling like a complete and utter failure.

"AGUAMENTI"

"TARANTALLEGRA!"

Each attack hit both Luna and Michael at the same time. A long, jet stream of water expelled from Luna's wand, soaking Michael while Luna began dancing uncontrollably.

'_C'mon Luna…'_

Neville crossed his fingers under his desk.

"IMPEDIMENTA!"

Suddenly Michael was knocked flat onto his back. Luna quickly countered the tarantallegra spell but before she could utter another Michael acted first.

"OBSCURO!"

Out of nowhere a blindfold appeared around Luna's eyes.

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

Luna's wand flew effortlessly out of her hand and into Michael's.

Neville sunk into his seat and folded his arms over his chest.

"Splendid, Michael! Well done! And Ms. Lovegood, thank you very much."

"My pleasure," she replied dreamily as she took off the blindfold and happily skipped back to her seat. Leave it to Luna Lovegood to not falter in her mood after losing a duel.

"Excellent! You are all doing wonderfully! Now, who's next?"

Slowly more hands began to raise until finally everyone except for Neville, Hermione, Harry and Ron had dueled.

"Alright, we're down to the final four. Who's it going to be?"

Harry and Ron stepped up to the front of the room and began to duel. They had been dueling for a good five minutes before Ron surprisingly defeated Harry by using a spell to temporarily bewitch him.

"Alright, now for the final two. Neville…Hermione are you ready?"

Neville's heart pounded and he began to feel faint.

They both nodded.

"Go!"

"RICTUS -"

"SILENCIO!"

Before Hermione could complete her words of attack she had been hit by Neville's silencing charm.

"RICTUSEMPRA!"

Neville then blasted Hermione with the curse that she had attempted to hit him with.

Hermione doubled over with silent laughter, her mouth opening and closing as if she was gasping for air; and as if a pair of invisible hands was tickling her she was wiggling about uncontrollably.

Struggling to stop herself, Hermione pointed her wand at Neville, suddenly able to speak.

"DISTRAHO!"

For a few short seconds Neville was distracted by hundreds of tiny dots that consumed his vision but he quickly snapped out of it.

"VALIDUS VENTARMUS!"

Suddenly the door flew open and a large gust of wind burst inside causing the entire room to shake and everyone in it to hang on for dear life. Papers flew wildly all around and books began to fall off shelves.

A few of the girls screamed at the top of their lungs, unaware of what was happening.

The strong wind moved towards Hermione who could only stand frozen in terror as it engulfed her and began to spin and throw her around in a chaotic fashion.

Neville then attempted to hit Hermione with another spell but missed.

It took Hermione a few moments to counter the wind spell but once she did she retaliated by hitting Neville with a lightning spell.

Neville was momentarily thrown off as an enormous bolt of lightning crashed and boomed right before him. The vibration set off caused his entire body to tingle, as if a million tiny electric shocks were flowing through him.

Neville shook it off and bellowed out his next attack.

"ARCUS PONTUS!"

Hermione let out a shriek as her body involuntarily bent backwards into a very awkward and uncomfortable looking arch.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

Neville had barely dodged Hermione's desperate attack. Remembering back to when she had used this curse on him in their first year, he was not going to allow her to do it again.

When she saw she had failed to hit him, she tried again but found it rather difficult to aim her wand while upside down in an arch position.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

"REPELLO!"

Two jets of light expelled from their wands at the exact same time only as soon as they met, Hermione's curse ricocheted off of Neville's repelling spell and hit her instead.

Her body, which was still arched, immediately went rigid and fell to the floor with a loud thud.

Neville ran over to Hermione and quickly muttered the counter spell and helped her up.

Hermione looked around rather disoriented.

The entire class remained silent and stared at them in awe.

"Hermione, are you okay!? I'm so sorry…I don't know where that came from!"

"Neville!" she hissed. "You do realize this is a duel? You should have disarmed me!"

Knowing very well that she had lost, Hermione nobly handed over her wand.

Francis, along with Harry, Ron, Seamus, Dean, Parvati, Lavender and a few others stood up and began to clap and whistle.

Neville and Hermione's duel had been the longest and apparently the most entertaining.

Neville immediately felt his cheeks grow warm.

"Marvelous, Neville! I see you even pulled a few new spells out of your sleeve. Being sudden yet discreet and unpredictable is the best way to fully take down your opponent. Keep them guessing until the very end. Well played, Neville! And you as well, Ms. Granger."

"Now all of the winners from the first duel will be chosen randomly to duel against each other one by one until we are left with one dueling champion! First up Mr. Longbottom and Ms. Redmont. Go!"

The second round of dueling went by much faster than the first had. Neville easily disarmed Ursela within minutes after using Ginny's Bat Bogey hex on her. Then he went on to defeat Lavender, Hector and a few others and now it was time for him to face off against Michael Corner.

Neville's heart began to pound. Michael had won Ginny's heart at the Yule Ball even though she had been _his _date and he was not about to allow Michael to take anything else from him. Neville drew his wand and waited for Francis' cue.

"Begin!"

"TEMERARUS!"

"INFECUNDUS!"

Both boys had been hit at the same time with each other's curses. Michael broke out into a painful red rash that spread throughout his entire body while Neville literally got the wind knocked out of him with an invisible punch to the gut.

"STUPEFY!"

"REPELLO!"

Neville quickly repelled Michael's attack, which sent it back to him which he easily shielded.

"FLIPTERGUMUS!"

Neville was instantly lifted off the ground and forced into what appeared to be a back flip only rather than landing back on his feet, he landed flat on his face.

"EXPEL -"

"SUSICIVUS ARTUS!"

But before Michael Corner could complete the charm that would have disarmed Neville and taken him that much closer to becoming the champion, Neville's curse had hit him square in the chest and he immediately began to sprout extra arms and legs at an alarming rate.

He looked like some sort of human octopus.

Michael was clearly distracted and quite traumatized by what was happening to him, so Neville didn't hesitate to make his move.

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

Neville reached out and caught Michael's wand.

Francis, along with the entire class sat in a stunned silence as Michael continued to sprout extra limbs. Neville relieved Michael of the curse and turned around to face his uncle whose face was frozen in a state of astonishment.

Suddenly the class erupted into an outrageous round of applause.

"WOW!" exclaimed Francis. "Truly spectacular that was, wasn't it? Very skillful!"

"Thank you, Michael. You may take your seat."

Michael scornfully returned to his seat, but not before giving Neville a hardened glare and snatching his wand back from him.

"Alright and finally our last competitor, Mr. Weasley!"

Ron walked up to Neville and firmly took hold of his hand. He leaned in towards Neville's ear so no one else would hear him.

"That was bloody brilliant, mate! But could you try and not completely obliterate me like you did the others?"

Neville grinned and gave his ginger friend a reassuring pat on the back.

"Alright men, brace yourselves and assume your positions."

Neville and Ron drew their wands.

"Go!"

"LAN-"

"CITO MOBILIARBUS!"

Both boys had been equally quick in firing their attacks during the previous duels, only this time Ron had been faster.

Neville's body lifted off the ground and began to quickly levitate forward and back and around in circles or wherever else Ron pointed his wand and Neville was beginning to get very woozy.

"FURNUNCULUS!"

Ron dropped his wand and brought his hands up to his face as large, red boils began to appear.

The class moaned with disgust as some of the puss filled boils began to pop.

"REDIMIO MANUUM!"

Before Neville could react his hands flew behind his back and bound themselves together.

"LEVICORPUS!"

Neville felt himself begin to lift and he was abruptly flipped upside down.

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

And that was it. Ron had disarmed Neville. Ron had won.

"Well, for now it looks as if Mr. Weasley is our reigning duel champion. Congratulations Mr. Weasley and to all of you who participated. You should all be very proud of yourselves! Outstanding effort on all of your parts! No homework…"

As this was mentioned, everyone began to cheer loudly.

"But," Francis continued. "I do want you to keep practicing all of the spells administered in today's duels and maybe even discover some new ones on your own time but be prepared! Because next lesson we are going to have another duel! Now, off with you! See you next time!"

Everyone hurriedly filed out of the room excitedly chatting about the duels that had taken place except for Neville. He had decided to stay behind and explain to Francis what had been going through his mind over the past four days.

As soon as everyone else had cleared out of the room Neville spoke.

"I'm uh, sorry I've been avoiding you lately."

"Neville, do you realize how exceptional you were during the dueling just now?" exclaimed Francis, hardly able to contain his excitement and completely ignoring Neville's apology.

"Oh, well I think it was just luck."

"No," began Francis in a low tone. "That my boy was _not _luck. That was a natural born skill that you've always had in you. Glad it finally decided to come out and show itself!"

Neville felt a blush creeping on.

"Honestly, though. I think you're overreacting. So I won a few duels? Big deal."

"Neville, you not only defeated your challengers but you ultimately showed them up! All of the spells and charms that the majority of your classmates used were relatively elementary! But you, you pulled out more advanced, unknown otherwise sneak attacks. It was absolutely genius! If only your parents would have been able to witness this, oh they'd have been proud, Neville."

"Er, thanks," replied Neville uneasily.

"You have a rare gift, Neville. I've seen it; the entire class has seen it, now it's only a matter of time until _you_ finally see it."

"Right, uh anyways I um, wanted to apologize for my flakiness lately. I've just been having a bit of trouble dealing with what you told me."

"Ah, yes. It's alright lad. That was quite an earful so I don't blame you one bit. I imagine you still aren't even ready to speak with me."

This had been true. Neville originally planned to squeeze out of the classroom with the rest of his classmates and come to Francis later tonight after his quidditch try-out but he figured why wait.

"I just, I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this information. I-I don't know where to begin…I'm just so_ lost_."

"I know, Neville. I'm here to help you in any possible way that I can but you need to learn to trust me. I know I'm practically a complete stranger to you but I don't want it to stay this way."

Neville nodded in agreement.

"Hey, I've got an idea," began Francis. "How would you like to have dinner with me tonight in my office? That way we'll have more time to talk and you can get off to bed at a more appropriate time?"

"Uh, I-I don't know about that."

"Oh, c'mon now boy, what do you say?"

"Alright," he reluctantly agreed and was quickly beginning to regret.

"Splendid, I shall see you in my office for dinner then."

Neville nodded and began to walk to the door.

"Oh and Neville? Good luck with the quidditch try-outs."

Neville bid Francis good-bye and set off.

------

"Won-won, it's your turn."

"What?"

Lavender frowned at her particularly clueless boyfriend.

"To answer the quiz question."

"Oh, right," he began.

Lavender, Ron, Ginny and Dean had been huddled in the common room partaking in one of Lavender's stupid Teen Witch Weekly quizzes. This month's subject, coincidentally enough was on dating.

Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Oy, Neville!" called Ron, who had never been happier to see his shy dorm mate.

"Care for a game of wizard's chess?"

"No thanks, Ron."

"Oh, Neville! Go find Hermione so you two can join us! We're all taking the _'what is your dating persona'_ quiz!" Lavender announced.

At this Ron's ears turned bright red and he appeared less than amused.

"Er, actually that's alright."

"No, no! I'll go get her. Just hang on!"

And with that Lavender jumped up and lumbered up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.

Neville sat down next to Ron and they all sat in an awkward silence, avoiding eye contact until Lavender reappeared with a rather agitated looking Hermione.

"Alright!" squealed Lavender. "Are you two ready?" she asked motioning to Neville and Hermione.

Hermione sighed.

"Lavender this is completely insignificant. You interrupted my studying to bring me down here to engage in some silly magazine quiz?"

"It's _not_ silly…" retorted Lavender, clearly quite offended. "It's a very useful tool in the guide of dating."

After everyone finished answering a series of brutally ridiculous and embarrassing questions Lavender finally announced the results.

"Alright, Dean you are _the loverboy_."

Ginny giggled and gave him a quick kiss.

Dean looked around at Ron and Neville for assistance on his title and both just shrugged in return.

"Ginny, you are the wild rose."

Ginny grinned smugly, apparently satisfied and in agreement with this title.

"Neville, you are in a dead heat for both _the vapor trail _and _the mixed messenger _and Hermione you are _the maid of honor_."

Hermione groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Now for you and me, Won-won! You are-" but before she could continue she began giggling madly.

"Go on! Get on with it! What am I?" he prodded impatiently.

"_The manchild_!" she finished.

At this Hermione snorted.

"Sounds about right," she mumbled.

"Hey! That's just not right!" Ron began. "Test me again!"

"And_ I_," began Lavender ignoring Ron's protests. "Am a mix of _the stiletto_ and _the window shopper_."

"Well, at least she scored Ron and herself right," Hermione whispered into Neville's ear.

"Alright, so who's up for another quiz?"

"No, Lavender! No more!" begged Ron.

"Okay, let's see…oh! This one's perfect Won-won! The _how well do you know your significant other_ quiz!"

Everyone but Lavender shared a collective groan but no one got up.

Neville and Hermione exchanged nervous glances.

How were they going to pull this one off?

"Alright, I'll begin by asking Neville a question about Hermione then move on to Dean and then Ron and then we'll switch it up and ask the girls! Ginny you can quiz Ron and me! Okay, so Neville oh! This should be an easy one, what is Hermione's favorite color?"

"Err," Neville quickly looked to Hermione to see if she would give him any clues.

"Oh, that's easy! Royal blue."

Everyone turned to look at Ron.

"What? Oh, oops."

Ron's entire face turned scarlet.

Lavender suddenly put the magazine down and stared hard at Ron.

"_Won-won_…" she began through gritted teeth. "It's _very rude_ to speak out of turn."

Hermione tried hard not to grin.

"Now, obviously that won't count so Neville I'll ask you another question. Alright, what do you think Hermione would say her most attractive quality is?"

"Err," Neville was absolutely stumped. "Her eyes?"

"Hermione, is that right?"

Hermione sighed. "My brain."

"Alright, Dean who is Ginny's favorite author?"

'_Ebony Swift!'_

Neville only knew this because Ginny had mentioned it once over dinner in his fifth year.

"Uh, I thought you were more a fan of these…magazines like Lavender has?"

Ginny frowned and pulled away from Dean.

"Ebony Swift," mumbled Ginny.

"Oh, well how was I supposed to know that?! I've never seen you reading any books other than to study!"

"Okay Ginny, here."

Lavender passed Ginny the magazine.

"Ron," she began flatly. "What would Lavender say is her best _non-physical_ attribute?"

"Easy, her ability to read people."

"Yay! Won-won!"

Lavender jumped into Ron's lap and began showering him with kisses.

"More like her ability to_ bore_ people," Hermione whispered into Neville's ear.

"Okay Hermione," began Lavender taking the magazine from Ginny. "What does Neville find most attractive about the opposite sex?"

Hermione stopped to think a moment.

"I'd say their personalities."

"Neville?"

"Yeah, that's right."

Neville quickly snuck a glance over towards Ginny and they momentarily locked eyes. He quickly looked away.

"Ginny, who is Dean's favorite sport figure?"

Ginny sighed.

"Omar Ulyse of the Bolivarian Bombers."

"Yes!" Dean pumped his fist in the air.

"Okay, here Ginny." Lavender handed over the magazine.

"Lavender, what is Ron's favorite candy?"

"Oh, that's easy! Bertie Bott's Every Flavor jellybeans!"

"Yep."

"Wow, anyone could have figured that out," mumbled Hermione to no one in particular.

They continued to answer questions until they had finally reached the last question.

"Okay, last question Dean," began Lavender. "If Ginny could only do _one thing_ for the rest of her life what would that be?"

'_Play quidditch!'_

Neville knew this because he had heard her telling whoever would listen in her second year how she wanted to be a professional quidditch player one day.

"Uh…" Dean thought it over for a few moments too long.

"Time's up!" called Lavender. "Ginny?"

"I would want to play quidditch," she replied sadly.

"Alright, now me and Ron!"

Ginny grabbed the magazine and tossed it to Hermione.

Hermione caught it with surprise and read the last question.

"First, _Ronald_…what is Lavender's favorite fashion accessory?"

"No idea."

"Won-won…" began Lavender with a frown. "You should know this…"

"Haven't the slightest clue."

"You aren't even going to try and guess?" she whined.

"Nope."

Lavender crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

"My pink head band…which I happen to wear _everyday _and have on _right now_."

"Lavender, what does Ron cherish more, a nice hot home cooked meal or take out?"

"The first one," muttered Lavender.

"Yeah."

Lavender snatched the magazine from Hermione and began to tally up the scores.

"Dean and Ginny, you two scored the lowest followed by Neville and Hermione and Won-won and I scored highest!"

"How wonderful," muttered Ginny. "Hermione's right, this was an absolute waste of time."

And with that Ginny got up and exited the common room.

Hermione stood up and pulled Neville up behind her.

"C'mon Neville, let's go to the greenhouse before lunch."

------

**Author's Note: **So this chapter was a little bit longer than the others if you hadn't noticed and focused a bit more of the skewed romantic relationships that everyone is involved in. Anyways, up next in chapter 9…Neville_ fiiinally _tries out for quidditch! :) Thanks for reading! Please leave a review!


	9. Adrenaline

**Chapter 9:** Adrenaline

"That's not all you're having is it Neville?" asked Ginny, surveying him from across the table and frowning down at the small portion of food he had collected for himself.

Normally it was Hermione getting on him about what he did or didn't eat but she was rather preoccupied squabbling with Ron at the moment.

Neville looked down at his plate. He had a garden salad and a bowl of soup.

"Er, I don't want to over-do it."

"Yeah, but you've got to have energy for try-outs tonight."

"Oh, trust me. I'll find some energy somewhere."

Ginny raised both eyebrows, verbally signaling that she disagreed with him but did not say anything.

"Oh, Neville that can't be all you're eating?"

Hermione's motherly tone suddenly jumped into the conversation as she turned to him and immediately dismissed his idea of lunch. "You can't expect to try-out for quidditch and do well on an empty stomach? Here, eat some of this."

Hermione grabbed some pork chops and began piling them on a plate along with some potatoes, a scoop of vegetables and a dinner roll.

"There," she replied setting the plate down in front of him and admiring her handy work.

"Now_ that's_ a meal."

Suddenly without thinking Neville pushed the plate aside.

"Thank you Hermione but the last time I checked I was pretty sure I still had the capability to feed myself."

That had come out a lot more rudely than Neville had intended because Ginny, Dean and Seamus along with Hermione and a few more surrounding gryffindors gawked at him, surprised to hear such sharpness in his voice.

Hermione blushed and didn't say another word for the rest of lunch.

Neville soon enough came to regret what he had said but he couldn't help it. He was so tired of being judged and ridiculed over what he chose to put in his mouth. It wasn't right. He wished everyone around him would just mind their own business and go back to ignoring him completely like they had in previous years.

No one had ever taken notice of what he ate or even how long he took in the washroom before.

So why now? Why did it matter now?

Neville had been so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice when Dean and Ginny left. He looked up and found that his wish had been granted, at least for now.

No one was paying any attention to him.

He grabbed the plate Hermione had prepared for him and took a few small bites of it.

Then it became too tempting, he pushed the plate away and returned his attention to his garden salad, which rather than eat he continued to poke at with his fork.

Without saying a word to anyone Neville got up and exited the Great Hall.

------

"Ginny, you are completely blowing this out of proportion! It was a stupid magazine quiz! So what I didn't know a couple of answers? Are you really going to let a quiz in a magazine define our relationship?"

"Dean! It's not that but just the fact that you don't even seem to care that you didn't know these things about me! It was so embarrassing!"

"I do care."

"Yeah, well you sure aren't acting like it!"

"What do you want me to do then Ginny? Hmm? Do you want me to get down on my knees and beg you for forgiveness? Do you want me to keep taking the quiz over and over again until I ace it?"

"Well, actually listening to me would be a start," she retorted coldly.

"I listen! I'm listening!"

"No, Dean. I mean other than when we're arguing. If you _truly _listened to me you would have known every single one of those answers."

"Well Ginny, I'm sorry. Okay?"

When Ginny didn't accept his apology, Dean got angry.

"What do you want from me Ginny?! Every time we fight it's always something_ I_ did! You can never admit to when you do something wrong and I never try and make you because I know it'll just start a fight! So why don't you try being the bigger person for once, Gin? Hmm? Just swallow your pride and for once admit you're wrong!"

"This is just it Dean! You are _so_ self-centered that you even think all of our fights revolve around you! It's pathetic! It's not _all _about you Dean! This is about _me_ and how _I'm_ feeling! And you'd know exactly how I feel half the time if you actually listened once in awhile! Although I imagine it's kind of hard for you to listen when ninety-five percent of the thinking you do involves your jimmy!"

Dean's eyes flashed and his tone began to rise.

"Funny you say that considering we don't do much of anything anymore…"

"Oh! _YOU_!" Ginny stopped herself and pointed a finger in his face.

"All you seem to care about is sex! You're such a wanker!"

"Oh, gee Ginny…no need to be modest," he replied sarcastically.

"PISS OFF!"

"Ginny look, we need to get this all out now before try-outs because I refuse to cause a scene, alright? So go ahead and scream, insult me some more, do your worst."

Ginny screamed at the top of her lungs in frustration.

Suddenly they both froze as the fat lady granted someone entrance.

It was Neville.

Ginny quickly walked away from Dean and began to advance towards Neville.

"Excited about try-outs Neville? I'd get-"

"Sorry Ginny, can't talk now!"

Neville vanished up the stairs to the boys' dorms before she could finish.

Dean and Ginny exchanged puzzled glances.

"Wonder what's wrong with him?" questioned Ginny, more towards herself than Dean.

Dean sighed.

"I'll go check on him," he offered.

Dean made his way up to the boys' dorms and sure enough the door to the washroom was wide open and inside was Neville, leaning over the toilet.

Dean lightly tapped on the door.

Neville jumped and immediately stood up straight and turned to face Dean.

He gave Dean a nervous smile and adjusted his crooked glasses.

"Uh, you okay?" asked Dean.

"Yeah I'm just _really nervous_ about try-outs."

"Are you sure?"

Neville forced a cheeky smile and nodded.

Dean stood in the open doorway and crossed his arms over his chest, observing his clumsy dorm mate for a few minutes.

Something was off about Neville lately but he couldn't place his finger on it.

Neville's nerves started to go jumpy and he wondered why Dean hadn't left.

"D'you have to come in?" asked Neville.

"Oh, no…sorry I'll just uh, leave then."

Dean turned around and closed the door behind him and made his way back down to the common room.

"Is he alright?" asked Ginny.

"Uh yeah…" replied Dean hesitantly.

Ginny stared at Dean knowing that there was more.

"Well, what was he doing?" she prodded.

When Dean didn't answer Ginny continued.

"He wasn't being sick again was he?"

"No, I mean…he was over the toilet but he hadn't been sick yet."

"What is this like the third time you've found him being sick in the past week?"

"Yeah but you know how Neville is. He's a nervous wreck half the time over nothing, always has been. He just needs to learn how to relax and get a handle on his nerves. He's probably just jittery about try-outs coming up in a few hours. He always has had a rather weak stomach towards any sort of new challenge he faces, you know?"

Ginny nodded.

"I suppose you're right."

------

'_Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!'_

Neville couldn't believe he had left the washroom door wide open again for anyone to just walk up and find him. He slapped a hand against his forehead, locked the door and uttered a silencing charm.

Neville placed his hands on his knees and bent over the toilet again.

What little lunch he had eaten came up easily enough and it had only taken five or six heaves to get it all up, which was very unusual but good.

Neville flushed the toilet, wiped his nose and brushed his teeth.

He hated the feeling of his shirt fabric sticking to his skin so he quickly peeled off his uniform and jumped in the shower to freshen up.

When he got out of the shower and dried himself off he put his glasses back on and began to observe himself in the mirror.

His eyes traveled down his entire body and while he had come a long way from where he used to be, he was still an unsightly mess that he could hardly stand to look at.

If anyone else were to look at him right now they'd see a normal looking boy who stood six feet three inches high and weighed one hundred and sixty pounds. They'd see that while he was very thin, he wasn't sickly so and they'd be reminded of how he had always been chubbier in his younger years and would just assume the baby weight had redistributed as he grew in height.

But then they would also take notice of the fact that although he wasn't sickly thin, he wasn't far from it. Then they would take a closer look at his definite collarbone and how sharp it was becoming, along with the sight of a few more visibly countable ribs and proudly jutting hip bones.

But what Neville saw was entirely different. He saw multiple chins, rolls of fat and love handles. There wasn't one part of his body that he even saw as _just_ good enough.

He let out a sigh as he began pinching all of the fat that he believed clung to his body.

'_Well, look on the brightside. At least it doesn't look like you've gained any extra weight.'_

'_Are you kidding?! You've gained at least an entire stone since you got here, fatty! So repulsive, I can't even imagine what girl would want to wake up next to THIS every morning!"_

Neville finally turned away from the mirror and put his trousers back on and was pleased to discover that they were slightly looser on him than they had been earlier.

It seemed crazy, but after every purge he felt thinner. He knew better though, he knew that in reality it hadn't actually done anything to improve his waist size but still, he loved the feeling.

Suddenly there was another soft knock on the door.

Figuring it was just Dean checking up on him again, Neville opened the door.

But it wasn't Dean, it was Ginny.

The warmth growing in Neville's face continued to spread down further.

'_Oh god…what are you doing! Shut the door, you idiot! You don't want her to see you like this! You look hideous!'_

Neville was frozen. He could only stand with his hand on the doorknob and watch in horror as Ginny's wide eyes traveled up and down his shirtless torso, taking in _all _of the stomach-turning, flabby mess that made up his body.

Ginny opened her mouth but found she was unable to speak. She only continued to ogle the sight of a shirtless Neville Longbottom standing right in front of her.

'_See, look at'er! You've traumatized the poor girl! She's in shock at how fat you are!'_

Neville slammed the door in Ginny's face and began to panic.

'_Oh god, now that she's seen me like this…she'll never speak to me again! I mean, the look on her face…she was disgusted!'_

But in reality, Ginny hadn't been disgusted. In shock, yes, but not because Neville was fat but rather he was…sexy! Who would have thought that under the robes and layers of clothes he wore that Neville had a body! Nobody would have known because Neville always wore the most unflattering clothes, sweaters that were too big for him and loose fitting pants that did nothing for his bum.

Ginny felt like an idiot standing there, gawking while nearly salivating all over him. She wondered if he would ever be able to look her in the eye again after this.

"Neville?" She called knocking lightly on the door. "Sorry if I uh, startled you but I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Dean's left to go set up for try-outs so I'm the only one here right now…"

"S-sorry Ginny I'll be right out."

"Alright, I'll be downstairs."

Neville poked his head out the door slowly to make sure Ginny had left and quickly sprinted out, grabbed a clean sweater and threw it on.

He sprinted downstairs, making sure to leave as much space between him and Ginny as possible when he sat down.

For the first few minutes neither looked at the other.

"So, Dean told me about how brilliant you were in defense against the darks arts today when you all dueled. He told me you were second best to Ron, which to be honest surprises me…Ron's never been that great at dueling."

"I just got lucky."

"That's not how Dean described it. He said that you cursed Michael Corner into growing multiple limbs all at once."

Neville suddenly felt a spike in his normally non-existent annoyance meter at the mention of Michael Corner, not even that but just the fact that it was Ginny saying his name.

"Where did you learn that curse Neville?"

"Oh, I've been using it in the greenhouse for ages now. I use it on damaged plants and plants that have become uprooted. It's really very useful…I didn't know it'd be useful in a duel as well. I just took a shot."

Ginny smiled and Neville's heart fluttered.

"See Neville, if you come to try-outs with that same amount of confidence you had when you dueled earlier then I just know you'll make the team!"

"I uh, wouldn't have necessarily called it confidence…"

"Then what would you call it?" she challenged.

"Er…"

"See," Ginny replied with a smirk.

"So uh, what quidditch positions are available?"

"Well we're looking for a new keeper; I mean that's our most important position to fill at the moment. Then we just need one more chaser and one more beater."

"Right."

"Well from what Dean got watching you duel he said you have fast reflexes. That would definitely be an excellent attribute for chasing…"

Suddenly Ron entered the common room and sat down across from them.

He fell back against the chair and sighed dramatically.

"_Yes_ Ron?" began Ginny.

"Women…are a very confusing breed."

Ginny's eyebrows rose.

"And men aren't?"

"They just mess with your head! And the sickest part about this is they enjoy doing it!" exclaimed Ron.

At this Ginny grinned wickedly.

"Why yes, we are rather skilled in our craft to make all you miserable at any cost."

Ron groaned and placed his hands over his face.

"I didn't get a chance to tell you earlier Ron but you were really great during the duels," replied Neville.

"Yes, surprisingly so…" added Ginny, stroking her chin. "Now who are you and what have you done with my brother?"

Ron glared at Ginny and turned to Neville.

"Thanks mate. I just got this strange rush of adrenaline right before we began dueling. You weren't so bad yourself, bloody brilliant in fact. So where did you learn all of those curses?"

"Most of them I'd been using in the greenhouse for years while working with certain types of plants."

"Really?" replied Ron.

"Yeah, so it's not really that interesting."

"Not interesting? Mate, if you've cursed someone to where they're sprouting extra limbs at like two per second that's _very_ interesting!"

Neville blushed.

"Well, I suppose I ought to go make sure Dean's doing alright setting up for try-outs. I'll see you later Ron and you, Neville, I'll see in a few."

As soon as Ginny left Neville's nerves began to start up again, as try-outs were looming closer and closer.

"I'll tell you this, being on the quidditch team was the best experience," began Ron. "If it weren't for all of this other stuff going on…" he suddenly stopped himself realizing that he along with Hermione had made an unspoken agreement to Harry that they wouldn't speak to anyone else outside of their circle about certain things. "I'd still be on the team." He finished quickly.

"Yeah," replied Neville dully.

"So," began Ron quietly. "How is Hermione? I haven't talked to her in what seems like ages…other than you know, in arguments."

"Oh, she's fine…you know Ron, you should just talk to her. She uh, misses talking to you and I think she'd really appreciate it. Talk to her tonight."

Ron looked back up at Neville, surprised at how generous he was being.

"Really? She misses me? Did she say that?"

Neville nodded.

This had been somewhat of an innocent fabrication. Hermione hadn't actually vocalized in so many words that she missed Ron but the fact that she always managed to find a way to bring him into almost any topic of conversation in some way, even if it was in a negative light, was her way of expressing that she missed him, even if she wouldn't openly admit it. Neville knew she did.

"Are you sure…approaching her is a good idea? I mean, it doesn't seem to me like she wants much of anything to do with me anymore…"

"Ron, that's not true. Just talk to her."

"What do I say?"

Neville scoffed.

"She's one of _your_ best friends…just talk to her like you normally would."

"Right, brilliant! Well, I don't want to get sappy or anything…"

"Just be honest, tell her how you feel about her."

Suddenly Ron's eyebrows shot up and disappeared into his hairline.

"Er, I mean…like you know, about how much you cherish her friendship," Neville quickly countered.

"Oh right, yeah."

"Well, I'm going to rest before try-outs. See you later."

"Good luck and thanks Neville."

------

"Alright, welcome to quidditch try-outs everyone. I'm going to assign each of you a position and then we'll switch it up to where everyone gets a turn to play each open position. Two of you will have to sit out for this first round until we can swap you in for two more players. Any questions?"

Dean surveyed everyone and began fussing with the whistle around his neck.

"I assume everyone here knows the rules to the game and how to play?"

No one said anything.

"Good, well I'm going to go make sure the team you will practice against is ready. I'll be right back."

There were a total of five players trying out including Neville himself and he soon realized he was the oldest among them. Out of the four others he only recognized three of them. Gertrude Crougar was a fourth year he had tutored in Herbology last year. She glanced up and smiled at him, giving him a small wave. He smiled back at her.

Then there was Gabe Valentine, a sixth year who he sometimes saw hanging out with Ginny. And finally was Pablo Knott, a fifth year who had entered his plant in the same exotic plant competition Neville had over the summer and ended up placing sixth. The other boy who Neville did not recognize looked older and was a sixth year at most.

"Neville," Ginny began coming over to him. "I told you to show up early remember? You would have had time to practice…"

"I know. I'm sorry, Ginny. I overslept. I doubt even a half hour would benefit me. Just watch, I'm going to blow this just like I've been telling you."

Ginny playfully slugged him in the arm.

"There are five of you here and only three available positions. You will be judged in four different areas of athleticism which I like to call the four s's- stability, speed, strategy and sportsmanship. Whether or not you make the team will be based on combined score totals from each category, an individual evaluation and finally deliberation from myself as team captain and the other players that make up this team. Any questions?"

When no one spoke up Dean continued.

"Before we begin try-outs I would like to introduce to you the current members of our team. I'm Dean Thomas and I am an outside chaser. This here, is Parvati Patil, she is our other outside chaser. Right here, is Ginny Weasley and she is our seeker. And finally, last but not least is Henry Timm who is our open side beater."

They all smiled back at the recruitees smugly, showing off the fact that they already had guaranteed spots on the team.

"Alright, the hufflepuff's were kind enough to offer to play against us so we'll be practicing as if this were a real match. Now, we're looking for a keeper, a center chaser and a blind side beater. I think we're ready to play, to start off I want Neville as our center chaser, Gabe as our blind side beater and Gertrude as our keeper. Now, Pablo and Leon, you guys just sit tight, alright? We'll get you in too."

Both boys nodded and stepped back as Dean released the balls. Then he, Ginny, Parvati and Henry all mounted their brooms and flew up into their positions.

Neville's stomach dropped. He suddenly felt very ill. His grasp on his broom was slipping due to his sweaty palms. It had been a long time since Neville had ridden a broom, at least not since his fifth year.

The hufflepuff team soon followed on their brooms.

Neville was going to need a miracle.

"Neville! Wait!"

Neville turned around to see Hermione accompanied by Harry, running down the field towards him.

"We wanted to come and cheer you on," she replied, out of breath. "Good luck!"

"Yeah, good luck mate," began Harry. "Although I don't think you'll be needing it considering what you pulled out of your sleeve earlier today during the duels."

Neville blushed.

"Thanks…"

"Just remain calm. Take a deep breath and remember it's_ just_ a game, okay? You'll do great!" replied Hermione encouragingly, pulling him into a lung crushing hug.

Gertrude and Gabe had already flown into their positions and Neville knew they were waiting on him so he mounted his broom and prayed for a smooth take off.

Surprisingly, that is what he got. He flew up into the center position between Dean and Parvati and tried to calm his nerves by taking deep breaths as Hermione suggested.

"Oy! Harry?" Dean called down. "Would you do the honors?"

"Sure thing!" Harry called back up.

Dean sent the quaffle straight to Harry and he tossed it right back up.

'_This is it…the point of no return. Just keep your eye on the ball, don't get hit by a bludger and remember that Ginny's watching! So try not to make too big of an arse out of yourself!'_

One of the hufflepuff beaters immediately took action and drove a bludger straight towards Dean, who had been caught off guard. Dean took the hit and missed the quaffle which had been right within his reach. Parvati grabbed the quaffle and flew towards the first hoop only to have narrowly escaped the second bludger.

Dean was being blocked and attempting to get open.

Neville quickly flew over to one of the hoops and raised his hands up.

"Parvati!"

She tossed the quaffle and it flew towards him very slowly, afraid that the other team would intercept it he quickly flew away from the hoop, grabbed the quaffle and sped back. He not only heard the sound of a bludger zooming past his head, but felt the rush of air sweep past him.

He could hear Ginny screaming, cheering him on as he whizzed by one of the hoops and threw the quaffle straight in without complication.

"YES, NEVILLE!"

Ginny flew over to him beaming.

"See, what I told you!" she squealed, hardly able to contain her excitement as she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

"That was brilliant, mate!" began Dean. "You're a lot faster than I expected you to be!"

Neville had actually been enjoying this small victory until Dean had said that.

'_Wonderful, another reference to how fat you are.'_

'_Can you blame him? Your fat arse can barely fit on this broomstick as it is and all of this extra fat you've got on you adds extra weight to the broom, thus causing you to move slower! I bet if you lost another ten pounds you could move faster than anyone else on the team!'_

"Er, thanks…" replied Neville.

"Well, I meant…seeing as how you've never really been all that confident in your flying skills. Didn't mean to make you think I was taking the mickey."

"No, I know."

They continued a few more rounds with Neville as center chaser. Dean scored twenty points, Parvati scored ten points and Neville had scored them an additional thirty points, making their total score seventy to hufflepuff's sixty.

"Alright, now Neville I want you to play as our blind side beater now, Gertrude our center chaser and Gabe our keeper."

After Harry threw the quaffle one of the hufflepuff chasers grabbed it and flew towards the hoops. Neville quickly summoned a bludger and knocked it as hard as he could towards the chaser, hitting the back of their broom and knocking them off balance.

"Nice hit, Neville!" Dean called.

Gertrude then flew by and collected the quaffle which had fallen out of the hufflepuff's grip and headed towards the hoops only to be hit by the other bludger.

Dean quickly relieved Gertrude and effortlessly threw the quaffle into one of the hoops.

Suddenly one of the hufflepuff chasers flew down under the other players and ended up right in front of the gryffindor goal post.

"I'm open!"

The other chaser who had the quaffle tossed it to the open chaser who easily tossed it through one of the hoops.

They could hear Gabe cursing to himself.

"It's alright! You'll block it next time." Dean assured him.

After this round hufflepuff had pulled ahead and was now leading by thirty points.

Dean decided it was time to bring Pablo and Leon in so Neville and Gertrude volunteered to sit out for the next couple of rounds.

As soon as Neville's feet touched the ground, Hermione nearly knocked him off his broom before he even had time to get off.

"Oh, Neville! You are doing fantastic!"

"You really are, mate," added Harry. "In fact, I think we're looking at our newest quidditch superstar," he joked, slapping Neville on the back.

"Oh, well…I have to admit. I am having fun."

"See…" Hermione began, hooking her arm through his and leading him away from the field so the three of them could talk in private. "This is what happens when you start to let go of the idea that you're going to fail at everything you do. I think you're finally starting to gain a little bit of confidence in yourself! If you keep this attitude and put it towards other aspects of your life, just think of the ultimate gains you will win for yourself!"

"Oh, Ron and Seamus told me to tell you that although they aren't here, they're rooting for you," added Harry.

Neville turned towards his raven haired friend and was invited to a rude awakening by the red, lightning bolt scar emblazoned on his forehead.

Neville began thinking again about how close he had been to being where Harry is right now. Voldemort had two infant boys to choose from and had one split second change in Voldemort's decision occurred on that fateful night seventeen years ago, Neville could have been the boy who lived and then he would be the one to bare the lightning bolt scar on his forehead, he would be the one orphaned and left to relatives.

He had the sudden urge to grab Harry and tell him everything he had learned from Francis about his own fate and how similar it truly was to Harry's. He wanted to assure Harry that he wasn't alone and in return listen to how Harry himself has coped with having such a tremendous burden placed upon his shoulders. He also wanted Harry to bring him reassurance that he wasn't alone either, because after seventeen years of feeling alone Neville was ready to open up and face the truth. He was ready to let someone else inside his world, someone just like him who understood everything that he was feeling and who would have to go through everything he was about to go through.

"Neville? Are you alright?"

Neville looked up to see Hermione watching him warily.

"Yeah, 'm fine."

But Neville wasn't fine.

Sometimes he found himself desperately wishing that someone would see through his lies and try to get to the bottom of what was wrong with him but at the same time the thought of that terrified him. Neville had many secrets that he chose not to share with the world and many of them happened to be secrets he planned to take to his grave.

Neville removed his glasses and rubbed the lenses off on the bottom of his sweater.

"I appreciate you both coming down here. It means a lot," he told them.

"Of course Neville, we're your friends," replied Hermione.

Neville looked at Harry who was staring right back at him.

Harry very discretely pointed his wand towards Gertrude and suddenly her broom flew off.

"Oh no!" she shouted, running after her broom.

Hermione saw what had happened and took off after Gertrude.

"Listen Neville, I need to talk to you alone sometime."

Neville put two and two together that Harry had bewitched Gertrude's broom to distract Hermione and by the looks of it he didn't have much time to explain anything of real importance to Neville without the whole incident looking suspicious to Hermione.

"About what?"

"Can't talk about it here…just look for me whenever you have a moment to spare."

Hermione had rejoined them merely seconds later.

"That was strange…" she observed.

"Alright, Neville and Gertrude you're in!" called Dean suddenly.

They both mounted their brooms and flew back up into the game.

This time Neville was serving as the team keeper. As soon as the quaffle flew up into play a hufflepuff chaser was already making their way towards Neville, who began to panic. How was he going to successfully guard all three hoops?

Neville began flying back and forth in front of all three hoops as the chaser advanced towards him. They threw the quaffle towards the center hoop. Neville moved quickly and caught the quaffle before it had a chance to go in.

"YES!" came Ginny's voice.

"Great save, mate!" followed Dean's voice.

As this round continued Neville blocked six attempted goals and only allowed two to go in. While he was disappointed that he wasn't able to stop all of the goals from being made, it could have been worse. He could have missed them all. He was very satisfied with the performance he gave during the try-out and it would be up to Dean, Ginny, Parvati and Henry on whether he would make the team.

"Good game, all!" declared Dean, as he shook hands with the hufflepuff captain and told everyone to meet back down on the quidditch pitch.

"Now, I'll call each of you up for your individual evaluations and then we will deliberate and then after that we'll come to a decision."

"First let's have Leon."

Neville hung back until his name was called.

"Neville for stability you scored seven out of nine, for speed eight out of nine, for strategy an eight and a half out of nine and finally for sportsmanship a nine out of nine. Some of your visible strengths were speed along with quick reaction timing and being a fair team player. While you earned many triumphs on your own you never failed to include your fellow team mates in the process, which is a great quality that is hard to find in many players. Is there anything you'd like to say to us before we begin deliberating?"

"Er, no…t-thank you."

Neville and the other recruitees stepped back and waited patiently while the current team members discussed who would make up the remainder of their new team.

"Regardless of whether or not you make the team, we just want you to know that you were great," began Hermione. "And that you should be very proud of yourself."

"Thanks."

Neville was beginning to grow dizzy and light-headed. He fought the cloudiness that was beginning to conquer his mind and tried to focus on what Hermione and Harry were saying to him.

It seemed like an awful lot of time had gone by so Neville checked his pocket watch. Twenty minutes had gone by. He was beginning to worry, it shouldn't take that long to come to a decision should it?

"Neville, just remember no matter what you were brilliant." Hermione reassured him again.

He knew she was just trying to be supportive but if she told him how brilliant he was one more time he thought his head would explode. He wasn't used to being showered with so much praise and so many compliments as he had been receiving lately. It was uncomfortable for him and he had no idea how to properly react and because of this he would rather save himself the trouble and not receive any sort of positive reinforcement.

Neville went over all of his best played moments in his head and hoped that they had been good enough. He had no idea where all of his motivation to perform well had come from and whether it had simply been to impress Ginny or whether he was finally tired of just being known for his knack in Herbology.

Maybe he was tired of hiding and only being good at things _secretly_; maybe he was ready to step out of the background and make himself known, sharing his undiscovered talents with the rest of the world. Maybe he was tired of being forgotten and was ready to be remembered, for whatever reason.

Neville was again overtaken with dizziness and was forced to grab onto his broom for support so he wouldn't topple over.

"Neville, what's wrong?" asked Hermione.

"I'm just…exhausted," he replied. "That was quite a work out."

Hermione bit her lip and stared hard at him, immediately seeing through him.

"No, you're weak because you didn't eat any lunch. I told you, Neville…"

"No, I did eat…a little bit," he argued.

"Well, it wasn't enough, mate," added Harry. "Believe me, if you end up making the team you're going to need to eat all the time to keep up your strength in order to play. I can't even count how many times I almost fainted mid-flight due to not eating enough."

This was_ not_ what Neville had wanted to hear.

"Here, sit down," replied Hermione, grabbing hold of him and helping him sit.

"Thanks, I'm fine now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! I'm _fine_," he snapped.

"Alright, we've reached a decision." Dean called.

Neville stood up too quickly and as a result he was temporarily blinded and everything went white. He felt as if everything was spinning, even when his eyes were closed.

All five of them made their way over and stood in front of the current team, eagerly awaiting to hear who had been chosen.

"This was a very difficult decision as all of you gave great performances and would all be very substantial additions to this team and if we had more positions available we would welcome all of you to join but unfortunately we only have three available positions. So without further a due the newest members of the gryffindor quidditch team are…"

But Neville never got to hear those names because suddenly everything went black.

------

**Author's Note:** Muhahahaw, I know! How evil of me to leave it as a cliffhanger! No, but in all seriousness I hope you are all enjoying this story and that you continue reading! I was debating on whether or not I should add this chapter up today as well, considering I just added chapter 8 but it's been awhile since I've updated and I already had these written so here we are! Coming up soon, chapter 10! (Which I have yet to write but will get started on) Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! Reviews motivate me to get chapters up faster! :)


	10. New Precedences

**Chapter 10:** New Precedences

Neville opened his eyes to Harry, Dean, Hermione and Ginny looming over him. Hermione had been gently patting his face in an attempt to rouse him.

"Welcome back…" began Dean. "Gave us a little scare there mate."

Neville sat up and brought a hand up to his head.

"Oh, and uh, I almost forgot…" continued Dean with a huge grin beginning to grow on his face. "Welcome to the team!"

"Oh…" Neville began.

"I told you you'd make the team, Neville!" exclaimed Ginny, wrapping him into a hug.

"We're going to let you choose the position you want since overall you did the best and played equally well in all of the positions," said Dean.

This was a lot for Neville to process.

Dean stuck his hand out for Neville to grab and pulled him up.

"We'll give you time to think about it if you need to," Dean continued. "Anyways, congratulations again and we'll see you in the common room. C'mon, Gin."

Neville was still a little bit wobbly and had to hunch over for a moment to steady himself.

"C'mon, let's head back," replied Hermione, rubbing his back.

"I-I…_I'm_ on the quidditch team…" mumbled Neville in disbelief.

"Well, believe it mate!" said Harry. "Congrats."

The three of them started to walk back.

Finally after not saying much Hermione decided to add her two cents.

"Well, _I_ think you need to go pay a visit to Madame Pomfrey."

"No, I'm fine now. I just overexerted myself," he answered.

"_Neville_…" she firmly insisted.

As soon as they reached the gryffindor common room they were met with cheers and whistles and a chanting of Neville's name. Ron even got everyone to sing 'For he's a jolly good fellow,' but quickly stopped when he saw how embarrassed Neville was.

"Oy, congratulations mate!" Seamus greeted him, slapping him across the back. He then led him to the center of the room where everyone was gathered in a large circle. Hermione followed and suffocated Neville in an overwhelming hug and a kiss on the lips.

"So how does it feel to be our newest quidditch team member?" asked Seamus.

"Uh…good?"

"You bet our arses it does!"

Pretty soon everyone in the room had come up to him and congratulated him and gave him a pat on the back and he couldn't believe this was happening. It didn't seem real. He had never been the center of attention in his life and he wasn't sure whether or not he liked it.

Even the girls who had never before given him the time of day were coming up to him and talking to him. He was never important enough before for people to go through as much trouble as to throw a celebration in his honor. In fact, he hadn't ever even been thrown a proper birthday party. Neville had never been worth anyone else's time before, so why now?

Hermione grabbed Neville and pulled him away from the crowd to a secluded area.

"Listen," she hissed. "Forget what I said about breaking up…I don't think Ron's learned his lesson yet."

"Er," but before Neville could protest Ron came over.

"Hermione? Could I talk to you for a second?"

"Oh," began Hermione rather surprised considering she had just mentioned him.

"Ronald. Hi."

"So?" began Ron again. "Can we talk?"

"Of course."

Ron led Hermione the other end of the room.

"Listen, Hermione. I uh, just want to let you know that I…"

"Yes, Ron?"

"I…I've been an insensitive jerk and I'm sorry."

"Thank you, Ron…" she replied quietly.

"So uh, the truth is…" he began. "I've missed you. I uh, mean talking to you that is."

Hermione smiled.

"Really?"

"Why wouldn't I Hermione? You're my best friend but for once I have to tell you that you were wrong…"

Hermione's eyebrows rose.

"When this first all started," Ron explained. "When you said I didn't need you," Ron hesitated for a moment and then finished. "You were wrong. I do need you."

"Oh, Ron!"

Hermione threw herself at Ron, nearly knocking him down.

"I've missed you too! I absolutely hate it when we fight!"

From across the room Lavender saw what was happening and was not very happy about it. The glass she held in her hand shattered and she marched over to them, grabbed Ron by the scruff of his collar and dragged him away.

"So," began Neville walking over to a bewildered Hermione. "You two make up?"

"Yes," she replied, watching as Lavender screamed every obscenity in the book at Ron and then proceeded to run out of the common room in tears.

After about an hour things started to die down and people began to retreat to their dorms.

The only ones left in the common room now were Neville, Ron, Harry, Seamus and Parvati.

"Harry, can I uh, talk to you?" Neville asked, figuring this was as good a time as any to get him alone.

"Sure."

They made their way up to the boys' dorms and sat down on Harry's bed.

"Alright, so what's up Harry? What'd you need to talk to me about?"

Harry took a deep breath.

"Remember when we went to the department of mysteries? Remember the prophecy that everyone was trying to get their hands on? Well…"

"Oh," began Neville. "Yeah, I already know about that."

"Look, I know this must be a lot to deal with right now and believe me I would have told you about it sooner but Dumbledore made me swear not to."

"Wait. How long have you known about this?"

"Since fourth year…" Harry admitted sheepishly, suddenly feeling guilty that he had known for so much longer than the other boy.

"Francis told me everything and I kind of freaked out over it, couldn't talk to him for a few days."

"Well, I just wanted to make sure you'd been told," began Harry. "I mean, you deserved to know and if nobody had told you by now then I was going to tell you myself."

"Francis told me that Dumbledore wanted him to come back and join the order and give us some special training…"

"I'm ready," started Harry darkly. "I'm ready to face Voldemort and do whatever it takes to defeat him once and for all."

Neville nodded and began to wonder if he'd ever be as brave as Harry.

------

While everyone else rounded off to go eat dinner Neville remembered that he had told Francis he would go visit with him.

He made his way to Francis' office and knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

"Ah, hello Neville, have a seat."

Neville sat down.

"Where is your dinner?" asked Francis, looking up after taking a bite of his own.

"Oh, I uh, wasn't very hungry."

"Nonsense! A growing boy your size? Go get yourself something to eat and bring it back here. Go on."

'_A growing boy your size? Even he thinks you're fat.'_

"Umm, okay."

Neville entered the great hall, grabbed a plate and began eyeing the food. He wanted something light but enough to make it look like he would be full when he was finished.

"Neville? What are you doing?" asked Hermione.

"I told Francis I'd go eat with him."

"Oh," she replied.

He grabbed a piece of buttered bread and ripped it in half and then he grabbed a small chicken leg and a salad.

Neville told his house mates bye and headed back to his uncle's office.

He sat down and immediately began to pick the crispy brown skin off the chicken leg.

"So tell me Neville, how were quidditch try-outs?"

"Good," he replied softly. "I made the team."

"That's excellent, Neville! What great news!"

"Yeah, I uh, was really surprised."

"Well, anything you put your mind to you can accomplish," replied Francis.

Neville nodded and stared down at his plate.

'_So much for grabbing something light! This is all so fattening!'_

There was a small pool of grease under the chicken leg that dribbled down and touched the bread.

Neville was disgusted and had to refrain from gagging out loud.

"What position will you be playing?"

"I haven't decided yet…I'm thinking I want to be center chaser though."

His uncle was watching him closely with curious, flashing eyes.

"Dumbledore wants me to begin meeting with you and Harry at the beginning of next week. We've already let too much time go to waste and we need to get started with your training immediately."

"Training? What sort of training?"

"That's for another day, Neville. Right now I want to talk about you."

"Oh."

"Have you had a chance to think anymore about how you feel about all of this? I'm here for you to talk to if you wish."

"Well, I talked to Harry…"

"And?"

"I feel a little better. We both know now what's in store and I feel better knowing that I'm not alone in this. I mean, he's got it much worse and everything but still…"

"Anytime you feel overwhelmed about anything you can come to me, alright?"

"Sure thing," replied Neville.

"Right how are classes going?"

"Oh fine I s'pose except for potions. Professor Snape hates me…"

"He does now does he?"

"Always has, he's hated me since I first started. He hates Harry too. I've never done anything to him…he just hates me and manages to humiliate me in some way everyday."

"I think I may need to have a talk with Severus and kindly inform him that there is no need to bring issues of the past into his classroom."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, when we were all in school Severus was a bit of an outcast. He didn't have any friends and he was tortured and humiliated every single day- which is most likely why he is so eager to humiliate you and so many of his other students. Anyway, the only people in the entire school that gave him the time of day were your mother and Harry's mother, Lily. Everyone knew that Severus was in love with Lily and he grew resentful towards her when he discovered she did not return his feelings. The hurt and the hatred grew even more when Lily began to date Harry's father, James."

"So, is that why he hates Harry?"

"I would presume so. Severus was never one who took much lightly."

"So then why does he hate me?"

"Well, during our seventh year Severus grew even more withdrawn and was sneaking around at all hours of the night, leaving the school grounds and your father began to grow suspicious and followed him one night. He discovered that Severus had become a Death Eater and he sold him out to Professor Dumbledore."

"Professor Snape's a Death Eater?"

"_Was_," Francis corrected. "Years later Professor Dumbledore offered Severus a trade. He would teach at Hogwarts and keep an eye on Harry while he was there and in return Dumbledore gave Severus his word that he would be kept safe from the other Death Eaters who were out for him after he fled. He now works as a spy for the Order."

"Wow," began Neville.

"So while he may be an insufferable pain in the arse he is very crafty. He is a very powerful wizard and we're lucky to have him fighting for our side."

"What? B-but professor Snape can't possibly be- I mean, once a Death Eater always a Death Eater right? It just doesn't make sense…"

"Albus Dumbledore is no fool, boy. If he sees fit of Severus Snape then I trust in that. Like I said, he may be unpleasant, wretched and cruel but he would never harm anyone…" Francis paused and then quickly retracted what he had just said. "Well, seeing as he's done plenty of harm to you let's just say he'd never _physically_ harm anyone. This is exactly why he couldn't handle being a Death Eater. The tasks demanded of him were too evil…even for his tastes."

"Even with that being said I'll never like or trust him… _ever_," stated Neville firmly.

A few moments of silence followed and Francis let out a heavy sigh.

"Food not very appetizing?" he asked, taking notice that Neville hadn't touched any of it.

Neville looked over at his abandoned plate.

"Oh…"

He grabbed the chicken leg and scarfed it all down in a matter of seconds and then shoved the bread into his mouth.

"_Mmmm,"_ muttered Neville, grimacing through his mouthful of food. _"That was good."_

His uncle raised his eyebrows and smiled kindly at him.

Neville swallowed the food and looked around the room anxiously.

"Would you excuse me?" asked Neville suddenly. "I uh…need to use the restroom."

"Of course."

Neville grabbed his plate and quickly ran it to the kitchen and then made his way to the nearest washroom.

He locked the door, placed a silencing charm and ran to the toilet.

He could not believe he ate that disgusting chicken and buttered bread. He had almost been able to feel his arteries clogging just by looking at the food so he didn't even want to imagine what was happening after actually eating it.

As soon as every last bit of food came up he felt relieved.

He knew he wouldn't have long otherwise his uncle would wonder what took him so long.

He splashed water on his face and rinsed his mouth out.

He made his way back to Francis' office and sat down, hoping that his uncle wouldn't question his red, puffy face and bloodshot eyes.

"Are you alright?" he asked as soon as Neville sat down.

"Yeah…ran there and then back."

"Would you like more chocolate? I've got tons more sweets I'm trying to get rid of."

Neville frowned.

He had_ just_ gotten rid of his dinner and now Francis was offering him sweets. What exactly did he take Neville as?

"Um, no thank you. I'm stuffed."

Francis shrugged and leaned back in his seat.

"So," he began unable to hide a sly grin. "Have you got a girlfriend?"

Neville blushed.

"No…well, not exactly."

"Ah, well that's alright I wasn't really all that interested in girls when I was your age either."

Neville's blush deepened.

"In fact," he continued. "I don't believe I even went on a single date until I was damn near twenty-one."

When Neville fell silent Francis continued.

"I'm sorry Neville, I'm rambling."

"It's okay."

"I bet your gran will be proud once you tell her about making the quidditch team."

"I doubt it. She thinks I need to be focusing more on my studies."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better she was the same way with Frank and I when we were growing up. As I'm sure her parents were with her."

Francis reached under his desk and pulled out a tin can full of kettle corn and began munching on it.

"Would you like some?" he offered.

Was he kidding? Couldn't he see how fat Neville was? And that he had absolutely no business eating. Neville was beginning to wonder if he needed to start wearing a _'do not feed' _sign around his neck from now on.

"N-no thanks. I'm trying to cut back on all of that junk…more so now that I'm on the quidditch team. Gran was right, I feel so much better now that I'm being more watchful towards my weight."

"Oh," began Francis. "Can't argue with that now can we?"

More silence followed.

"Neville, I've got something I think you might be interested in…"

Francis grabbed a box behind him and began rummaging through it. He pulled out a small, black leather bound book and handed it to Neville.

"It was your father's. He wrote in it all throughout our years here and it may give you a little insight into the kind of person he was."

Neville opened it up. The pages were brittle and stained with age but the writing was still in near perfect condition, as if it had only been written in yesterday.

He began flipping through the pages.

"I grabbed it for safe keeping before I left home. Frank had forgotten it at our parent's house and I knew mum would have a heart attack after reading some of things he'd written about in there so…he just assumed he misplaced it. He never knew I took it."

"T-thank you," replied Neville.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm sure I'll come up with many other things you can have. Actually, we're going to have to continue this later, Neville. It completely slipped my mind but I'm having my first meeting with the order in a half hour."

"That's fine. See you later."

"Good night. Oh and remember Neville, please don't hesitate to come and talk to me no matter what about. You know anything- school, friends, girls or if there is ever anything troubling you."

Neville nodded.

"Thanks."

------

As soon as Neville entered the gryffindor common room he was met with the sound of someone crying.

Neville followed the sound and found Lavender lying on the couch, her face buried in a cushion.

"Lavender, are you alright?"

She looked up at Neville and shook her head furiously.

"No, I am _not. _Do I look alright to you?"

"Sorry, I'll leave you alone then."

"No, wait."

Lavender sighed and sat up, clutching the cushion tightly to her chest.

Neville sat down.

"It's _Won-wo_- I mean Ron…we had a fight and I'm afraid we're going to end up breaking up."

"Oh why?"

She sniffled and grabbed a tissue to blow her nose.

"I love him but I don't think he loves me…"

Neville suddenly felt overwhelming sympathy for Lavender. He knew exactly how she felt and it was a horrible way to feel.

"I think he's in love with Hermione. I mean, I'm not stupid…I know how to read between the lines."

"Have you talked to him about this?"

"No…because I know if I do then that'll be it,everything will be over."

"But if you don't talk to him you aren't being fair to yourself, because if he does have feelings for someone other than you then you deserve to know so you can move on. Sometimes you just need to focus on you. You have plenty of time to find love. You just have to make sure that person feels the same way about you as you do them. If you continue to spend your time and energy on someone who doesn't feel the same way about you then that's just more time wasted. Relationships aren't meant to be one-sided. It's important to give back as much, if not more than you receive sometimes."

"You think our relationship is one-sided?" she asked sadly.

"Well, no…I don't know. I'm just saying you need to talk to him because if his heart is set on someone else then you need to move on and find someone else who can make you just as happy, if not happier."

"Aren't you bothered by the fact that Ron loves Hermione? I mean, you two are dating aren't you?"

"Everyone seems to have that general idea…but no, it doesn't bother me. If they love each other then that's that. You can't stop true love from happening."

Lavender slowly stood up and began walking towards the girls' dorms.

"Thank you for listening," she replied softly before retreating up the stairs.

Neville set his dad's journal on the fireplace mantle and made his way out the astronomy tower. His mind was racing and he needed a good place to think.

As soon as he reached the top he saw that someone else obviously had the same idea as him. He turned and began to walk back down the steps until a voice called out to him.

"Wait! Neville, you don't have to leave."

It was Ginny.

"Oh, hi Ginny…just figured you'd want to be left alone."

"No, I could always use some good company."

He walked over and stood next to her and they both stared out at the school grounds.

"So, Mr. quidditch superstar," Ginny teased. "You're about to find out what it's like to be famous…well, maybe not famous but popular."

Neville scoffed.

"Uh, yeah right."

"So," began Ginny. "What do I get now that I've won our bet?"

Neville's eyebrows rose and he turned to look at her.

"_Our_ bet?"

Ginny's grin grew.

"I was right! I won the bet! You made the team."

"I know but I think you're forgetting that that was _your _bet Ginny. I didn't put anything up on it."

Ginny playfully slugged him on the arm.

"Bollocks! That doesn't matter; you still agreed to the bet and lost! So that means you have to own up."

"Fine, what do you want?"

"Alright, since I won…the only thing you have to do is stop saying bad things about yourself."

"That's it? Well, I'm sure I can manage that…what about thinking bad things? Do I still get that pleasure?"

Ginny rolled her eyes.

"I mean it! You're my friend but I _won't_ hesitate to throw a bat-bogey hex on you if that's what it'll take to get you to stop putting yourself down all the time…and don't think I won't!"

Suddenly the sodalitas ring on Ginny's finger began to heat up.

She felt a pang of guilt as she continued to ignore it but she and Dean had been fighting almost non stop lately and she was tired of it.

"Well, I hope Hermione's prepared," Ginny started. "Because I promise you you're going to have girls screaming your name and following you around all the time…she's going to have to beat them off of you with her books."

"Oh really?"

"Yep," replied Ginny in a matter of fact tone.

"And what do I get if you're wrong?"

"Wha- that's not fair! You can't do that!"

"Why not? You had no problem tricking me into a bet," he teased.

"Yeah, but that's only because I _knew_ I'd win! It was inevitable! You can't challenge me! I mean look at my track record so far, one and zip."

Neville couldn't help but smile, her arrogance was so cute.

Ginny smiled back. She hadn't noticed before now that he had dimples. This was something easy to miss considering he rarely smiled.

She thought he was so handsome when he gave a genuine smile rather than the lopsided grins and nervous smirks he usually wore.

"You should smile more," she told him. "It does wonders for you."

"Yeah? What are you going to tell me next that I should be a supermodel?"

Ginny giggled.

"Yeah, maybe! Let's see your catwalk."

"Ginny, I can barely walk down the corridors without falling over my own feet…I don't think a career in modeling would welcome such clumsiness."

"Well, you never know," she began. "After all, you were also so sure you'd muck up at try-outs."

"Well, I appreciate your enthusiasm but I'm pretty sure there isn't a modeling contract in my future."

"What time is it?" she asked suddenly.

Neville pulled out his pocket watch.

"Quarter to nine," he replied.

Ginny's ring began to warm up again and the glowing brought Neville's attention to it.

"I'm sorry if I'm keeping you…"

"No, Neville, it's fine."

"That's a sodalitas ring, right?"

"Yeah, Dean got it for my birthday."

"It's nice," he replied.

"Thanks."

"Well Neville, I think I am going to go ahead and go back inside. Are you coming?"

"No, I'm going to stay out here for a little bit longer. It was nice talking to you Ginny."

"You too. I'll see you tomorrow."

------

**Author's Note: **I haven't got much to say but if any of you do- you know what to do! :) Coming up next…chapter 11!


	11. Tuition

**Chapter 11:** Tuition

As soon as he bid his nephew goodnight, Francis threw on his coat, grabbed his wand and made his way outside past the gates of Hogwarts.

He then apparated and found himself standing in front of number 12 Grimmauld place, the current residence of his old school mate Sirius Black.

Francis began to grow nervous. He was about to be reunited with the people he left behind so many years ago. He had been a coward in fleeing and he had also been a traitor. The betrayal he committed had brought a rather cold front to the other members of the Order and the majority of them had grown to feel rather indifferent towards him; but this had all been a thing of the past.

He had changed for the better and he was here now to help in any way possible. He came bringing peace and wanted more than anything to seal any old wounds that were about to be reopened with his presence. He just hoped that the other members would be as welcoming and accepting of this as he was.

He quickly looked around to make sure he hadn't been seen and made his way inside. He heard voices and froze. It wasn't too late to turn around. He didn't think he would be able to go in there and face everyone. After all, nearly two decades had gone by since he had last seen any of these people but he had to face them. If he were going to do this for anyone it would be for Neville and for his brother Frank.

Francis took a deep breath and followed the sound of the voices until he was led to the dining hall. He stopped in front of the door and listened.

He wondered if Dumbledore had told them about his arrival and how he had joined the Order. Dumbledore hadn't revealed this to Francis, only telling him to come to the Black residence so he could take part in their first official meeting in over two years.

The door had been cracked open slightly so he slowly pushed it and stepped inside and as he did the room immediately fell silent and all eyes were on him.

Francis let go of the door knob and stood observing all of the familiar faces and of those he did not know.

Everyone was seated at a long, rectangular table which could have probably easily seated twenty or more people.

His eyes immediately drew him to Alastor Moody, who had been sitting nearest him.

Dumbledore stood up to greet Francis.

"Ah, Francis! It is good to have you joining us. Come on and sit down, hang up your coat. We have a lot to discuss this evening."

Francis hung his coat up and Dumbledore led him to an empty seat next to Sirius Black.

"Now, if you all will excuse me for just a moment. I must return to Hogwarts so I can accompany Severus and then we will get started."

Even after Dumbledore had exited the room remained hushed.

Francis cleared his throat and began picking at that pesky loose thread on his robe.

"Fucking hell…" began Sirius, staring at Francis with wide eyes. "We all thought you'd been dead for years!"

"'Fraid not. I'm still here."

All of the other members who had previously known him were still staring at him as if they had just seen a ghost.

A few moments later Sirius reached his hand out.

"It's good to see you again."

Francis smiled and took his hand.

From across the table Remus Lupin also reached his hand out.

"You're going to have to tell us what all you've been up to! God, how long has it been? Twenty some years? Makes you realize how old we've all really become, eh?"

"I just traveled mostly," replied Francis.

"Oh, c'mon! Traveled, phhft! You aren't going to tell us any more than that are you?" asked Sirius.

"Right, for those of you who don't know him, this here is Francis Longbottom. He is the brother of a former member, Frank Longbottom. Francis now joins us as our newest member recruited by Dumbledore himself," began Lupin. "Now, Francis this here to my left is Nymphadora Tonks although she prefers just Tonks. To my right, obviously you know the Weasleys. Arthur, Molly and these are their three sons Bill, Fred and George."

Francis smiled and nodded to them.

"This lovely young lady is Fleur Delacour and that strapping gentleman over there is Kingsley Shacklebolt. Now, there are more of us but they all couldn't make it," finished Remus.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance," replied Francis to those he had just been introduced to.

"So, how have you been?" asked Sirius.

"Oh, I've been getting by," he started weakly. "I'm still getting used to the idea of being back here after all of these years. I…I realize that I've made a lot of mistakes-"

"Francis," Remus interrupted, putting his hand up. "No. We're not here to dwell on the past. We've all made mistakes but the important thing is that you're here now."

"Thank you, Remus."

Suddenly Arthur and Molly Weasley got up from their seats and came over to Francis, who stood up to properly greet them.

"Oh Francis," began Molly who then proceeded to crush him in a warmly welcoming hug. "We're so glad that you are alright! No one knew whether you were dead or alive! You better not disappear on us again or so help me I'll-"

"Please excuse my wife," cut in Arthur, who gently peeled his wife off of Francis and extended his hand. "What she means to say is we're glad to have you back."

"Glad to be back," answered Francis truthfully.

Molly and Arthur returned to their seats and everyone else in the room began to talk amongst themselves quietly.

"How is Neville?" asked Molly. "Ginny has mentioned him a lot over the years. He sounds like such a nice boy…"

"Oh, well I'm working on that. I uh, gave him the shock of his life when I first arrived at Hogwarts. For awhile I didn't think he'd ever talk to me seeing as he wasn't too excited to see me. I can't say I blame him though seeing as I'm practically a complete stranger to him still, due to the fact that my mother never mentioned me to him. I've been talking to him and he's still got some warming up to do…more so now after I told him about the prophecy…"

"No!" exclaimed Sirius.

"Well, yeah …he deserved to know and while I may not have been the right person to tell him he needed to know. The boy's had enough kept from him his entire life and this is one thing that could kill him to not know."

Francis removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"How did he take it?" asked Remus.

"Not good…he avoided me for the next few days and refused to face it. I've been trying to get him to open up to me and I don't expect him to. I mean, I haven't been in his life. That boy is just so hard to read and I want to be able to help him get through this but I can't get him to talk to me about how he's feeling. I'm not his father and I'm not trying to be but he needs someone to help guide him. He needs family, other than his grandmother. After all, I can't imagine being raised by her has been easy…I should know, she's one tough witch."

"Just give him time, Francis," began Remus. "Neville doesn't have a lot of people he can open up to so he's not used to it and it certainly doesn't help matters any that the boy holds no form of self-respect for himself and has ultimately zero self-esteem. I taught him in his third year and I've never come across a student with such little confidence in my entire career."

"I blame my mother. She puts way too much pressure on that boy and holds him to incredibly high, unattainable standards. If I would have had any idea what were to happen to Frank and Alice…I wouldn't have left and I would have raised him myself…"

"No, now don't start Francis. He's going to be fine. You're here for him now and soon enough he'll come to realize that."

Francis grinned.

"You always were the wise one weren't you Remus? Still are."

"Yeah, that Neville's a good kid. Helluva little fighter too! A few of us arrived just in time to assist him and Harry in fending off the Death Eaters at the department of mysteries. I mean, he's a tough little son of a gun…taking the Cruciatus curse from Bellatrix like he did…" added Tonks.

Suddenly Francis' face fell.

"What?"

"Oh, you didn't know?" asked Tonks.

"No…I kept up with the battle coverage in the papers but I never knew about that…"

"He was very brave," began Sirius. "Harry told me that the entire time Neville was under the curse that he shouted at him not to give up the prophecy. Now tell me that's not something Frank or Alice would have done?"

Francis couldn't believe he didn't know this. His own nephew had been tortured by the same woman who tortured his own brother into insanity.

"I wonder why Neville didn't tell me about this because we talked a little bit about what happened that night."

"Well, Neville's never been a glory seeker," replied Remus.

Suddenly Albus Dumbledore along with Severus Snape walked into the room.

Without looking at anyone, Severus took a seat near the end of the table away from everyone else.

Dumbledore took his seat at the head of the table and gazed at everyone through his half-moon spectacles, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Now, I believe we are ready to get started," he began. "As you all know we are here on behalf of Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom. These boys are about to be faced with the most daunting challenge of their young lives and we will assist them in any way we can. We need to help prepare them for what is to come and we need to take action immediately because Voldemort will not wait, he has returned and he has every intention of finishing what he failed at seventeen years ago. Francis here will assist by training the boys in every grueling aspect of the dark arts because in order to defeat Voldemort they will need to be trained to think like him. Severus will be continuing to work with Harry in Legilimency and Occlumency and will also be working with Neville. The rest of you will be the eyes and ears of the Order and will report any suspicious activities and hearsay to me without delay."

"Albus? I 'ave a question?"

"Yes Fleur?"

"Eet is vital I believe to add zat zees boys are simply still children! It doesn't seem fair for zem to have to endure all of zees! Zey veel end up traumatized 'or zee rest of zer lives! There ought to be more vee can do for zem!"

"That is very considerate of you to mention, Fleur," replied Dumbledore gently. "I assure you that Harry and Neville are in good hands."

"Those poor boys," began Molly. "Both of them orphaned and growing up without a suitable mother figure. Merlin knows a boy needs his mother…"

Molly stopped and shot a glare at Fred and George who began snickering.

"No matter _how old_ he gets," she finished.

"Voldemort is currently building an army that is to be much more powerful than ever before. He is recruiting new Death Eaters at this very moment. He will stop at nothing to get to Harry and now unfortunately Neville has become quite an immense threat to him as well. Voldemort will be making his move soon and we need to be ready. After all, this is a war seventeen years in the making and we need to be prepared for anything, we need to be willing to sacrifice anything, even our own lives."

After Dumbledore said this a sinister stillness filled the room.

"Headmaster, when do you suggest I begin training Mr. Potter and Mr. Longbottom?" Snape questioned in his low drawl.

"Tomorrow and Francis you will also begin your training. Francis, you will train them in the mornings after breakfast and Severus will train them in the evenings after dinner. It will not be pleasant but you will need to be forceful and unrepentant. It is necessary that you reach inside of these boys and pull out their most iniquitous thoughts and most tragic happenings in order to help build them up to where they must stand mentally. It will be a catastrophic experience for them being they are so young and they will both break and beg for your leniency for which you can not abide. They need to know first hand what it is Voldemort has done and what he has yet to do. They need to be thrust into the darkest realms of evil, it is the only way. Severus, Francis you are both to report their standing conditions and progress to me each night. Is this understood? This is a crucial matter that we simply can not take lightly."

"Yes headmaster," replied Snape.

"Yes Albus," Francis nodded sadly.

He had finally just begun to get Neville to warm up to him and now he faced having to further break the boy's already broken spirit. He began to wonder if he had made a mistake in coming back. He hated what was being asked of him but it would all be for Neville's own good. It would make him stronger and more capable of fighting. He just hoped that whatever bond may blossom between him and his nephew wouldn't end up shattering like it had with the rest of his family.

------

By the time Neville returned to the Gryffindor common room it was ten minutes past eleven. He had been grinning from ear to ear the entire walk back. He and Ginny have exchanged more words in the beginning weeks of this year than in the entire six years they have known each other! He didn't know why she had been more open to talking to him all of a sudden but he wasn't complaining.

Although, along with spending more time with Ginny came the longing he felt. He was far past being simply smitten with her. Each moment spent with her he began to realize that he was hopelessly and irrevocably in love with her and that he had been for quite some time. But he knew that guys like him weren't meant for girls like Ginny Weasley, as a friend sure but as a boyfriend there was no way in hell. Girls like Ginny could easily love a guy like Neville but they could never find themselves falling in love with them.

It was about as complicated a matter as trying to mix water and oil.

Neville thought back to what Hermione had told him the night they shared their first kiss in the astronomy tower. As usual Hermione had been right. He knew that he could never have Ginny and he needed to let go of that and just let it dissolve into an irrecuperable fantasy.

Neville knew he would never be anything more to Ginny than just a friend and in all honesty he was okay with that- more than okay in fact. He felt proud to be able to call Ginny Weasley a friend. He felt extremely obliged just to be one of the few people who got to be near her, to be included in her life- no matter how little and to be able to share in some of her most pivotal moments. Most important of all he loved just listening to her talk, even if she wasn't speaking directly to him. He loved discovering her personal stance on various topics of conversation, even if he completely disagreed with it.

As far as simple school boy crushes went there was Hermione, who he had a crush on during their first and second years. The only other girl he could come up with that came close was Nancie Riahnon, a Hufflepuff in his year. He had met her one day in their third year in the greenhouse and they talked everyday. In fact, he figured that she was also the closest thing he had to a best friend at Hogwarts, although that faded rather fast seeing as they lost contact almost as quickly as their friendship had came to be.

He still came across her in the halls every once in awhile and they exchanged friendly smiles but nothing more. He wondered what had happened. Had it been him? Had it been something he did or said that turned him off to her? Was she embarrassed to be seen talking to Neville Longbottom? He didn't think he'd ever have an answer.

Neville decided that he would read for a little bit until he got sleepy but rather than grabbing 1001 Ways to Magically Improve Your Garden he remembered his father's journal. He grabbed it from the mantle and flopped down in one of the arm chairs. He opened it up and saw that there was a note inscribed on the inside cover which read as follows:

_August 15th, 1971 _

_My Dearest Franklin, _

_Use this journal to safely store all of your deepest thoughts and most cherished memories during your time at Hogwarts. Accomplish not what you believe is expected of you but rather what is demanded. I hold the utmost conviction that you will not fall short of what your father and I have worked so hard to instill in you through the course of these past eleven years. Remember to behave yourself, perform to the highest of your abilities and display your family heritage with great pride and respect. _

_Happy Birthday, son. _

_Mother. _

Francis had definitely not been kidding when he assured Neville that his gran had been the same way in raising him and his father. From the looks of the note she wrote in his father's journal, it looked like not much has changed with her.

Neville flipped to the first page and began reading the entry.

_September 1st, 1971 _

_So for my birthday mum bought me this stupid journal rather than the Cross Fire broom I asked for. I imagine Francis and I will be the only schmucks without one. I bet I'll have enough allowance money saved up to buy one myself soon anyways. I'm excited to start at Hogwarts. Mum is certain that Francis and I will both be placed in gryffindor as our entire family have been gryffindors. I'm not too sure I care what house I end up in as long as I get to play quidditch...I don't care what Francis keeps telling me about first years never making the team, I'm still going to try out! Well, I guess mum made a pretty good choice in getting me this seeing as I'm already writing in it. _

Neville flipped to the second page and continued reading.

_The sorting ceremony is over and I ended up in slytherin…of course Francis got in gryffindor, that's no surprise. I wonder how mum is going to take the news…I'm scared that she'll be angry and want nothing to do with me. After all, she always told us that the slytherins had bad reputations and were known mostly for turning over to the dark side and eventually becoming Death Eaters and working for he who shall not be named. This may be true but not for me. I'm still not sure what this means though…I don't think I'm bad but I can't necessarily be good either. I didn't argue with the sorting hat I just allowed it to debate for awhile. It had thought about putting me in ravenclaw for a long time before finally settling on slytherin. It told me that I had a lot of potential to become a very powerful wizard but that I had a mischievous and smug demeanor which would do me good in manipulating others in order to gain success. Whatever that means…I think Francis is more upset about this than I am. I know he was really looking forward to being sorted into the same house as me but I think this may be for the best. After all, we've lived together for the past eleven years. I think it's time that we both start to do things separately. I'm ready to be my own person…not just Francis' brother. I'm sure Francis feels the same way sometimes. _

Neville flipped to the third page.

_September 9th, 1971 _

_Classes are all going well but they are all way too easy. I've already made loads of new friends and quidditch try-outs will be coming up soon! I hope Francis is doing alright and making friends…I haven't gotten to talk to him much considering we're in different houses and are kind of rivals but he seemed okay. So earlier today I got my first detention with Professor Billowby for charming his coat to where it flew around the room and began dancing. I thought it was pretty funny but he sure didn't, boy was he mad. He took fifty points from slytherin but that's okay I'll make it up double by tomorrow I'm sure. So mum ended up taking the news of me being sorted into slytherin about how I thought she would. She actually found the time to come to Hogwarts just to ask Professor Dumbledore what the meaning of this was. Once he assured her that it meant nothing and would have little to do with how I turned out she calmed down but before that there was a lot of screaming, crying and protesting. She even demanded I be sorted again with her as a witness. I love mum to death but she is just so embarrassing sometimes. I'm just glad none of my friends saw her come in. I'll figure out a way to ease her mind and prove that I'll still be the best Longbottom I can be and that I won't turn out like all of the other slytherins do. I'm not really sure how dad reacted to the news but I imagine it wasn't as big a deal to him. Dad is a man of few words which is nice considering mum is the exact opposite. The Fundamentals of the Darkest Arts is my favorite class! It is so wicked and Professor Gigabo used to be an auror! I'm going to be just as good (if not better!) and well-known an auror as he was! Yeah, every bad wizard will soon know to fear the name Frank Longbottom! _

Then he flipped to the fourth page.

_September 13th, 1971 _

_Just received my first failing grade…mum is going to kill me! Hopefully she won't be as upset considering it's just Herbology but still…one of mum's favorite sayings is failure leads to insignificance and insignificance leads to disgrace. Francis and I should switch places for a day, that would be funny but I doubt he would agree to it. It's a shame to because Francis makes enough passing grades for the both of us. _

And finally he flipped to the fifth page.

_September 18th, 1971 _

_Sherry Pedersen keeps looking at me during charms. I think she likes me I don't know if I like her though. She's alright looking but she comes from a muggle family and I know how mum feels about this sort of thing. She already told Francis and me that she expected us to date purebloods so we could uphold the Longbottom legacy. Now Francine Tibolt is pretty and she's a pureblood! I think she likes me too because she sat next to me during dinner yesterday for no reason at all. She's a year ahead of me but that's alright. It doesn't bother me any. _

Neville closed his father's journal. He couldn't believe how different he had ended up from his father at that same age. His father had been confident, if not a little arrogant and already had girls after him within the first couple weeks of his first year! Whereas Neville was shy, clumsy and had been very unsure of himself. Also, this brought on questions as to what his mother was like at this age. He tucked the journal away in his inner robe pocket and went up to the dorms to get some sleep.

------

**Author's Note:** I Decided to go ahead and add chapter 11 and in addition chapter 12 because I've been so bored! Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading and you know what to do! :)


	12. Resilience

**Chapter 12:** Resilience

Neville poked mindlessly at his breakfast with his fork and began wondering how his and Harry's first session with Francis would be.

Harry had woken him up to tell him that they would begin training with Francis every morning after breakfast and then later with Snape after dinner.

"Oy! That's disgusting! We're trying to eat here!"

Neville looked up to see that Ron was showing everyone the contents of his food all chewed up in his mouth.

"Ugh, Ron…you are acting like a three year old," replied Hermione.

"What's wrong with that?" he retorted.

"Well, for one most people don't find that an attractive quality in others."

"Yeah, but you do," he said grinning.

Hermione blushed.

Now that Ron and Hermione had made up the other Gryffindors could at last eat in peace.

Neville had found out from Parvati who found out from Seamus who found out from Dean who found out from Ginny that Lavender had broken up with Ron the night before after a long discussion. Lavender had also confronted Ron about his feelings for Hermione which Ron of course denied but Lavender didn't believe him and broke things off. So now Ron was in a much more jovial mood than usual and Lavender was no where in sight and was most likely attempting to avoid Ron at all costs.

Suddenly Ginny came and huffily sat herself down across from Neville.

She had been sitting with Dean on the other end of the table but judging from the looks on both of their faces they had had a little bit of a row.

"Are you alright?" Neville asked her.

"Yeah…"

"Okay, well how have you been?"

"Fine."

"Er, would you like to go somewhere and talk?" Neville was surprised at how forward he had been in asking her this but she looked as if she needed to talk.

She looked up.

"Yes, I would love that."

He set his fork down on his untouched plate of food and they both stood up and exited the great hall.

"So are you alright?" he asked her again once they were out of ear reach.

Ginny sighed.

"It's just…well I don't want to trouble you with my stupid problems."

"No, Ginny it's alright. I don't mind."

"Okay so it's just that all of these fights Dean and I have been having lately they're wearing me down…"

Neville felt his face fall slightly.

"And they are the most ridiculous fights, just stupid stuff and he makes me so angry because the only time he really ever listens to me is _when_ we argue. I just feel like we're together for the wrong reasons. I can feel us sort of drifting apart but that's not my fault. I've tried talking to him…but he's not much of a talker…" at this Ginny blushed.

"Oh," replied Neville.

"He thinks everything is just fine between us and that I'm always overreacting but I'm not! I don't know how to get through to him…"

"Well, if you say you've already tried talking to him then maybe you need to use another tactic," began Neville. "Maybe you need to show him rather than tell him."

Ginny rose an eyebrow.

"Go on."

"Do unto others…"

"As you would have them do unto you," finished Ginny.

"Only in this case it would be the opposite," began Neville. "Treat him how he's been treating you and then maybe he'll see how unfair it is firsthand."

"That's actually not a bad idea. Thanks Neville."

"Don't mention it."

"Is there anything you'd like to talk about?" she offered.

"Not really…"

"Are _you_ alright?" asked Ginny. "You seem…I don't know, sad."

"I'm fine…just stressed."

"About what?"

"You know the usual things…"

"Which are?" pressed Ginny.

"Er classes, family, the war."

"Yeah well if you ever want to talk let me know. It would be nice to hear someone other than myself," she grinned. "I _do_ listen too you know…not just talk."

"Well thank you Ginny."

"Don't mention it."

"Neville," came Hermione's voice suddenly.

Neville and Ginny both turned to see Hermione quickly making her way towards them.

"Harry told me about your session with Francis. You need to come and eat something so you'll have energy. You two can finish talking later."

And with that Hermione grabbed Neville by the arm and led him back to the gryffindor table. Neville couldn't believe Hermione had done that!

He was so embarrassed but did not say anything. He didn't have the energy to.

Neville grabbed two bagels and slathered them with strawberry jam and quickly crammed them into his mouth practically swallowing them whole. He took a swig of pumpkin juice and found to his horror that he had grabbed another bagel and bit into it.

After that he ended up devouring three pieces of bacon, a side of scrambled eggs, two hot cakes and a hash brown.

Well, he'd done it again. He had made himself out to look like a complete and utter pig.

'_Unbelievable! You are a pathetic excuse for a wizard! Just keep stuffing your face because that is all you are good at!'_

"Neville are you ready?"

Neville looked up and saw that Harry was getting up.

"Yeah."

They started walking to Francis' office but when they reached his door Neville stopped.

"Listen Harry, go ahead and go in. Tell Francis I'll be in in a minute."

Harry let go of the door knob and turned around.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I forgot something in the dorms…I'll be right back."

"Okay…"

Neville began swiftly walking down the corridor and turned around to make sure Harry had gone inside. He entered the nearest washroom and locked the door.

He dropped down to his knees and hovered over the toilet.

There was no denying that this _thing_ he did was becoming sort of an issue, at least to other people who were growing suspicious of his strange behavior lately.

He hadn't really thought much of it before and saw it as something that came along with drastically changing his diet. When he first began cutting certain foods out of his daily intake and consuming less he found that if he ever overate his stomach would act up and be overtaken with these intense and unbearable cramps.

Soon enough he discovered that this was because his stomach had shrunk due to his new diet and it couldn't hold as much food as it had been used to. One evening after he had overeaten he vomited inadvertently and was instantly relieved of any stomach pain. So after that he would vomit to help ease any physical pain he came across if he overate.

This had all started late last year when he decided enough was enough. He had been tired of being fat and he decided to do something about it and surprisingly he continued on with this after he had returned home with noticeably positive results. Only problem was that he didn't see anything wrong with what he was doing. And it wasn't long before he was vomiting more often rather than just occasionally after overeating. This quickly escalated to him vomiting after every meal.

Neville knew it was sort of an odd behavior but he didn't see it as anything serious. He didn't see it as an illness he just saw it as something that he did. Something that had become a part of him and his day to day routine, just like showering and brushing his teeth. It was a relatively normal activity for him.

He heaved a couple of more times and shoved two fingers as far back into his throat as they would go, just to make sure that there was absolutely nothing left. He pulled out his pocket watch and was surprised at how much quicker he was becoming. He had only been in the washroom for eight minutes.

Neville flushed the toilet and stood up. He washed his hands, splashed water on his face, rinsed his mouth out and returned to Francis' office.

When he entered, Francis and Harry had been visiting. Harry turned around as soon as Neville closed the door. He sat down next to Harry and ran a hand through his hair.

"Hello Neville. I was just talking to Harry a little bit about what we were going to be doing today. How are you?"

"I'm good, thanks."

"So…what'd you forget?" asked Harry.

"Huh?"

"You said you left something in the dorms…what was it?"

Great. Neville hadn't even thought about that.

"Oh…uh it was nothing."

What a great excuse.

Harry's brow furrowed in confusion as he studied the other boy, unimpressed by his answer.

"Right then, are you boys ready to get started?"

They both nodded.

"Alright, well to start off with I'm going to introduce to you a few curses and then we'll practice administering them. Not on each other of course because that would be illegal but well, you'll see."

Neville and Harry exchanged nervous glances.

"Alright now what you boys need to remember is that what we do in this room _stays_ in this room, alright?"

They nodded again.

"Also, these curses are _never_, I repeat _never_ to be used unless you are in imminent danger. These are highly forbidden and classified unforgivable curses. If you are ever caught administering these curses under any other circumstance that is a straight ticket to Azkaban, no questions asked. These are very, very dangerous curses and if they are not managed correctly they can backfire and kill you rather than who it was meant for. You already know of the main three unforgivable curses, the _imperius curse_, the _cruciatus curse_ and the _killing curse_. There are many more unforgivable curses out there and I am going to introduce five more of them to you. There is the _dismerius curse_, the _puncturius curse_, the _percutius curse_, the _susurius curse_ and finally the _constrius spirus_ _curse_. Are either of you familiar with any of these?"

Neville and Harry both shook their heads.

"Alright, the dismerius curse is unforgivable because like the cruciatus curse, it is an intolerable form of cruelty. It is meant only for defeating inferi but has been known to be used as a method of torture. It is believed to be a favorite approach of Voldemort's. So basically what happens when you dispel this curse is a slow detachment of each limb from the body, the muscles begin to weaken and tear apart and the bones will begin to crack and eventually break away from the body. It all happens very slowly and the victim usually passes out before any dismemberment actually occurs, it's incredibly gruesome. Now, there shouldn't be any reason for you boys to ever have to use this curse but it certainly doesn't hurt to know."

Francis paused briefly and then continued.

"Now, the puncturius curse will slash the opposing wizard and if it is administered just once it's very useful as a distraction and is unlikely to end up being fatal. However, if it is used more than once then the risk of fatality is greater. The percutius curse will send a series of shocks through your opponent's body and they will eventually fall unconscious but not always, this curse has been known to cause an otherwise healthy man's heart to stop beating completely. The susurius curse creates an incessant buzzing in your opponent's head. The curse takes affect immediately and at first the buzzing will be faint but will continue to grow louder until eventually it overtakes their mind. They will not be able to hear or even think. It wears off but not for an hour. This curse has been known to cause its victims to take their own lives before it even had a chance to falter. Finally the constrius spirus curse simply constricts the airway of your opponent and depending on how it is administered it can be used to temporarily impair someone or kill them. Any questions?"

Neville and Harry stared at Francis with wide eyes.

"And w-we're going to learn how to administer t-these curses?" asked Neville.

"That's right," replied Francis.

"Sir, what type of a situation would any of these curses be suitable for?" asked Harry.

"Please Harry, when we aren't in the classroom call me Francis and it's hard to say exactly. It really does come down to your own personal instinct. If you feel your life is in danger then you have the _right_ to protect and defend yourself, even if that means killing. You do what you need to do to survive."

"Have you ever used any of these curses?" asked Neville, his voice small.

"Yes."

Both boys stared at him, now almost afraid of the older man.

"But not because I wanted to…and I never used any of them to torture or kill. See, as an Auror I was under command by the Ministry of Magic to use any means necessary in keeping the rest of the wizarding world safe; whether that meant losing my own life in the process or taking another life. It wasn't unusual for me to be tracking hundreds of Death Eaters at once and I was prepared to render as many of the ones I came across as virtually powerless as they could become by any means necessary."

The room stayed silent and Francis stood up.

"Come on, follow me."

They both stood up but Neville was forced to sit back down due to another dizzy spell.

"Neville are you okay?" asked Harry.

"I'm fine, you go on ahead."

"No, hang on."

Harry went to the door and called for Francis to come back.

"What's the matter?" Francis asked.

"I don't know," answered Harry.

"Neville, what's the problem?" asked Francis.

"Nothing I'm just a little dizzy."

"You know what boys…I think that's enough for today. We'll practice the curses tomorrow."

As Neville stood up Francis stopped him.

"Actually, I would like to speak with you for a moment. Harry you are free to go."

Harry nodded and closed the door behind him.

"Here eat this. It'll make you feel better."

Francis held out a large wedge of chocolate for him to take.

"No thanks."

"Aren't a fan of chocolate anymore? If I recall correctly you gladly cleaned me out of the sweets department not too long ago."

"I just don't want any," Neville replied sharply.

"That's fine. I won't ask you again."

"Is there a reason you're keeping me here?" Neville asked.

The older man sensed an attitude in the boy's voice and frowned at him. This wasn't like him to speak in such a tone.

"I'm wondering if I should be worried about you, Neville."

"No, you shouldn't."

"You've got a lot on your plate right now…you've got classes to keep up with and not to mention N.E.W.T.S. this year, quidditch, learning about the contents of the prophecy and I'm sure I certainly haven't helped just dropping in on your life so unexpectedly…and on top of all of this the intense training you are going to be doing. This is certainly enough to make any young wizard descend into a state of complete madness. It must seem like such an overwhelming and impossible time in your life but I am here to help you in any way that I can and believe me anything I can do to take any of the load off of you I will do."

"I appreciate that but I'm managing…"

"How?"

"What do you mean how?" asked Neville.

"I mean…how are you managing this? There must be something you do to help you deal with all of this, something fun or distracting to relieve you from all of the stress? Like me for instance, when I'm feeling particularly strained I like to paint. I mean you need something to keep you sane during this time after all, it's a very transitional period in your life that will continue to shape the rest of your future as a wizard."

"Yeah, I know…"

Francis observed the boy carefully.

"You'd come talk to me if something were bothering you wouldn't you? And if not me someone else, anyone…right?"

"Sure, yeah. Can I go now?"

The professor frowned at his nephew.

Neville wasn't meaning to get testy and didn't want to come off rude but he was sick and tired of people questioning him and asking him if he was okay all the time. It's like they all thought he had some sort of problem, which he didn't.

Francis sighed.

"Go on. Just remember I'm here if you need me."

Neville wasted no time high tailing it out of there.

------

Neville had finished his morning classes and it was almost lunch time. He decided to go back to the common room for a little bit and relax.

He walked into the common room and sat down next to Ron on the couch.

"Hey," greeted Ron.

"Ron, I need to tell you something…"

Ron sat up, his blue eyes flashing curiously.

"Well, first of all I'm sorry to hear about you and Lavender."

"Oh, phhft! I'm so over that. Want her? You can have her!" Ron joked.

Neville let out a soft laugh.

"Uh, no thanks…"

"So what is it?" asked Ron anxiously.

"Hermione and I aren't dating."

Ron frowned.

"You aren't?"

"No."

"B-but you guys are always together and you hold hands and she's kissed you and-"

Neville sighed.

"Look, don't tell her I told you this but its obvious she was trying to make you jealous."

"Jealous?" Ron echoed. "Why would she want to do that?"

"What would your guess be?"

"Because women get off on playing sick head games!"

"Well, maybe but what else…" prompted Neville.

"She was jealous of what I had with Lavender?"

"You're getting closer…"

"Just spit it out, mate! I'm no good at guessing games!"

"It's because she likes you Ron or hell, loves you…everyone seems to be aware of this fact except for you two."

Suddenly Ron's entire face went scarlet.

"She doesn't love me…there's no way. She thinks I'm insensitive and childish and-"

"She's been waiting three years for you to ask her out, so what are you waiting for?"

"How do you know? Did she tell you this?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself."

While Neville and Ron continued to talk a rather hurt Lavender watched them from the other end of the common room. She and Parvati had planned to study but that quickly resulted in them ignoring their school work entirely so they could focus on gossiping.

"I can't believe I fell so hard for him…" Lavender muttered. "He seemed so genuine and I honestly thought he loved me."

"Well, he's a jerk. Forget him…" Parvati began. "And no offense but you could have done _way_ better than him."

"Oh, I know."

"So are there-"

"What does Hermione have that I don't?" Lavender suddenly interrupted. "I mean…she's definitely gotten prettier over the years and she's smart but what is it about her?"

"I don't know, Lav. Why don't you ask Ron?"

Lavender glared at her best friend.

"Whatever, I don't care. They can have each other. Hell, they can even marry each other for all I care."

"So, as I was saying…" began Parvati slowly. "Are there any other guys you've got your eye on? If so you better make your move…all the good ones go quickly."

But Lavender hadn't heard her friend because she had been too distracted gazing at Neville and Ron as if she thought staring at them hard enough would allow her to hear what they were saying from all the way across the room.

"Lavender, Hello? There are plenty of other cute boys here that would be lucky to date you. What about Seamus? I've seen him giving you the eye before."

"No, Seamus is too short," replied Lavender.

"Georgie Parks?"

"Too tall."

"Well, you can't be too picky or there won't be any guys left who live up to your standards and then you'll just end up alone."

Suddenly Lavender turned to her best friend, her green eyes twinkling.

"What about Neville?"

"_Neville_?" Parvati repeated, shocked that his name had even come up.

"Yes, Neville," began Lavender. "He came in and talked to me when I was upset at Ron a couple days ago. He was just so sweet and understanding…and he's a really nice guy."

When Parvati didn't respond Lavender continued.

"And you have to admit…he's become rather fit recently."

Parvati looked over at Neville and slightly tilted her head.

"Well, yes…" she agreed. "But-"

"Admit it. Neville Longbottom is fit! And sweet, patient, understanding…and according to the magazine quizzes we took he's the romantic type! He's perfect!"

"But," Parvati continued. "There's only one problem…isn't he dating Hermione?"

Lavender frowned.

"Well, they won't be for long if Ron declares his love for her anytime soon," she replied.

"I don't know, Lav…I mean it's still _Neville_. I never reckoned he was your type."

"Parvati, I'm open to all different types of guys. It's like with clothes, there's not one outfit I won't try on at least once."

"But he's kind of…dorky," argued Parvati. "Don't get me wrong, he is really nice and a great quidditch player I might add but he's so shy…"

"So?"

"I don't know, Lavender."

"So, do you think I should ask him out? Well, whenever he and Hermione break up of course."

"That's up to you."

On the other end of the room Neville and Ron were discussing different tactics on how Ron could approach Hermione.

"So, you think I should just come straightforward and tell her how I feel about her?" questioned Ron.

"Yeah, that's normally the best way, easier too."

"I don't know if I can do that…why can't she come to me? Why do the men have to do all of the work!?"

Neville sighed.

"Look, you can continue to wait it out, hoping she'll come to you but in doing that you are also risking losing her to another bloke, only for real this time. Now, do you want that?"

Ron shook his head furiously.

"I can guarantee you that you have nothing to worry about. She's been waiting to hear you say whatever you plan to say to her for years and I know she wants to say the same to you. Don't let anymore time be wasted."

"Thanks for the advice, Neville. I don't know about you but I'm starved!"

Ron got up.

"You coming?"

Neville's stomach lurched at the idea of food considering what all he had consumed during breakfast. He decided to pass.

"No, I'm not really feeling too well. I'll see you later."

Ron shrugged and left.

About five minutes after Ron had left Lavender and Parvati followed.

Neville exited the common room and began walking down the corridor and as he walked he noticed that Francis happened to be coming out of Dumbledore's office and saw Neville. Neville pretended as if he hadn't seen him and continued walking.

Too late.

Francis jogged over to Neville and smiled.

"Feeling better?"

"Sure."

"Why aren't you at lunch?" asked Francis.

"Not hungry."

"Oh, well where you headed?"

"I'm going to work out for a little bit. Like you were saying earlier I need something else to focus on, to relieve me of stress and distract myself with."

"How about you grab a bite to eat first and come join me in my office for a quick chat?"

"I just said I wasn't hungry," snapped Neville.

Francis frowned.

What was going on with this boy?

"Sorry," Neville quickly countered. "I'll see you later."

Neville continued walking until he reached the quidditch hall where the fitness room and swimming pool was located. He figured he'd swim a few laps to burn off some of those extra calories that he feared his body was still paying the price for from breakfast.

He poked his head outside of the locker room to see if anyone was in the pool and was pleased to find it wasn't currently being used by anyone else.

Neville was very thankful for this. He was embarrassed just thinking about someone else seeing him without a shirt. It was such a disgusting sight.

He pulled his uniform off, placed his glasses in his locker and threw his swim trunks on.

As with the prefects washroom, the quidditch hall was only to be used by members of the quidditch team to help them train for matches and very rarely were any other students given permission to use the equipment but Neville had been sneaking in here since the end of last year. Sometimes when he couldn't sleep and didn't feel like going outside to the astronomy tower to think he'd come here to exercise and no one ever found out.

Now, lucky for him he had full access and could come and go as freely as he pleased.

Neville jumped into the pool and began swimming laps back and forth until he thought his lungs were on the verge of collapse.

He grabbed on to the edge of the pool and hoisted himself up so he could take a breather.

He waited a few more minutes and jumped back in managing to complete ten more laps.

Neville got out of the pool and returned to the locker room so he could dry himself off, throw his clothes back on and make it back to the common room in time to rest before Herbology but before he could even managed to get one foot through the leg of his trousers he caught a glimpse of himself in one of the full length mirrors.

He let the towel drop and scowled at his reflection. His hands traveled down his stomach and he began pinching at his sides. When was he ever going to be free of all this fat?

He sighed and finally pulled the towel back up, walking away from the mirror but something else had now caught his eye, a scale.

Neville couldn't even remember the last time he had weighed himself. All he knew was that it had been awhile and probably for the better. He had never been satisfied with the numbers on it and had been tired of the numbers ruling his life and determining whether his day would be good or bad, so he opted to stop weighing himself.

He really didn't want to get back into the habit of weighing himself all the time but something inside of him_ itched_ to know. He walked over to it and stepped on.

He began adjusting the weights until it finally balanced.

One hundred and fifty-eight pounds.

Neville tried not to think too much about it but he couldn't help but panic. That seemed like an awful lot of weight to him. The numbers kept flashing in his head, taunting him, challenging him. He walked away from the scale, threw his clothes and glasses back on and hurried out of the fitness room.

------

Neville woke up from his nap to muffled screams floating up from the common room.

He figured it may have been Ron and Hermione.

He looked down at his pocket watch. It was almost six thirty and that meant dinner would be soon and then after that his first session with Professor Snape.

He let out a yawn and rolled out of bed lazily.

As he descended down the stairs he recognized that the voices belonged to Dean and Ginny and he stopped to listen.

"YOU ARE SO DENSE! CAN'T YOU SEE WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO ME?" shouted Ginny.

"NO, OBVIOUSLY I CAN'T…SO WHY DON'T YOU TELL ME?"

"ALL YOU SEE ME AS IS SOME STUPID TROPHY! YOU SEE ME AS SOME SORT OF PRIZE YOU'VE WON AND LOVE TO SHOW OFF TO YOUR FRIENDS! ADMIT IT! IF I DIDN'T LOOK LIKE THIS YOU'D HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST IN ME WHATSOEVER!"

"BULLSHIT! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT GINNY! AND YOU CALL ME SELF-CENTERED? WHAT ABOUT YOU?! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S SHALLOW! I MEAN, YOU KNOW HOW GOOD LOOKING YOU ARE, DON'T EVEN DENY IT! AND YOU USE THAT TO LURE GUYS IN JUST SO YOU CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEM!"

"WHAT!? I HAVE NEVER TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF YOU OR ANY OF THE OTHER GUYS I HAVE DATED!"

"That's not what I heard…" muttered Dean, dangerously lowering his tone.

"OH? SO YOU'RE WILLING TO BELIEVE SOMETHING SOMEONE ELSE TOLD YOU ABOUT ME OVER ME? WHATEVER DEAN, JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"You know what, Ginny? There are things people have told me about you that I'm pretty sure I know are true…one, you_ are_ just as bitchy off the rag as you are on it and two, you've fooled around with more guys than Elsa Perkins and you know everyone calls her a slut behind her back so imagine what people say about you. You know something though? I didn't care about that! I learned to see past that and you don't even care!"

Silence.

Neville continued walking down the rest of the stairs and advanced towards them.

And surprisingly without notice he marched straight up to Dean.

"I may not know much but I do happen to know it's necessary to treat a lady with respect and if I ever hear you talk to her or _anyone else _for that matter like that again I will hex your mouth right off of you. Got it?"

Dean just stood and stared at Neville in astonishment, unable to maneuver his mouth to form a response. Soon enough he found his words.

"You know what Neville?" he began in a low, spiteful tone. "You need to learn to mind your own goddamn business like you used to. Everyone finds it much more enjoyable when you just keep to yourself."

Suddenly the sound of solid smack resonated throughout the room.

Dean began rubbing the left side of his cheek where Ginny had slapped him so hard that it left a quite a large red impression instantly upon contact.

Dean glared at both of them and then stormed out.

Without saying a single word to Ginny, Neville also exited the common room.

He decided to go the greenhouse, he needed to be alone.

He reached the entrance and muttered the password and hurried into greenhouse number three which Professor Sprout had been kind enough to let him have to himself.

Neville watered all of his plants and sat down.

What Dean said had really hurt. He wondered how many other people felt the same way he did. Was Neville just a nuisance that everyone simply tolerated? Did anyone truly even want him around? Neville sighed and began working with his plants.

This was very relaxing to him. It was so peaceful in the greenhouse and he loved the smell of freshly ground dirt and dew, especially of a morning. He couldn't exactly say what attracted him to plants but he loved every breed of plant, no matter how different it was or how hideous it may appear to others. There was something very extraordinary about working with plants. He felt accomplished at the end of the day just knowing that he made a slight difference in the existence of these plants just by simply nurturing them and promoting their growth. After all, if there were no one to look after these plants they would simply shrivel up and die and it was a very rewarding feeling to know that he kept them alive.

Neville easily managed to work through dinner.

He brought his arm across his forehead to wipe off the sweat and looked down at his pocket watch. It was eight o'clock.

If Neville didn't hurry he was going to be late for his session with Snape and he knew that Snape wouldn't take that well at all.

Neville exited the greenhouse and took off running.

------

**Author's Note: **Okay so here you have it! I have a couple of things I feel I need to mention. As you may have noticed I went more in depth with Neville's eating disorder in this chapter. I want the build up to be slow paced and I want it to be as realistic as possible and my reason for this is that I've read a lot of ED centered fics before and the majority of the time I find myself extremely disappointed in how cliché, poorly researched and unrealistic they come across.

Most of the time the character used is a female and she solely decides to become anorexic or bulimic for superficial reasons (such as they can't fit into a certain outfit, or to impress a certain boy, etc) and the disorder is centered around weight and appearance only! Grrr, nothing annoys me more because eating disorders are about CONTROL!

In my story even though the development of Neville's disorder begins with him dieting because he thinks he's fat that is still not the main reason! There are underlying issues that helped contribute in transforming his diet into a fully fledged eating disorder that he will eventually be forced to dig up and face firsthand! He is also currently plagued with poor self-esteem and a bad self-image which is severely distorted and his eating disorder is a way for him to have some sort of control in his life, which is something he hasn't been known to have much of before considering his Gran had done her best to control every aspect of his life for the past seventeen years.

So, I feel it is my mission as a former suffer myself to attempt the most realistic, non-clichéd, gripping, and ugly portrayal of eating disorders that I can possibly muster. I hope that it will serve some sort of justice in the name of eating disorders being a REAL, LIFE THREATENING DISEASE rather than just some fad diet quick fix to get into a pair of skinny jeans.

A fair warning to all readers, if you are looking to read a 'magically cured eating disorder due to the love of someone near and dear who pulls the sufferer back from the very brink of death before it is too late and they all live happily ever after kind of fic' then you are reading the WRONG story!

I assure you all that as sad as you feel for Neville he is NOT going to be getting better anytime soon and in fact things are about to get even worse before they get better…because THAT is how it is in real life! It is the honest to God truth and I hope this fic is a good representation of REAL LIFE and the many issues that we all have faced or will end up facing in our lives.

Whew! That was an eyeful, huh? Anyways, had to get that off of my chest! I'm going to be out of town so there will be a delay with chapter 13. This is why I went ahead and decided to add both chapters 11 and 12. Once again thanks for reading! I appreciate all of your feedback and hope to continue pulling in more new readers! :)

Merry Christmas to you all!


	13. Sedition

**Chapter 13:** Sedition

Neville flew in the dungeon and quickly took his place next to Harry who was standing in the middle of the room, waiting. Neville surveyed the room and let out a stifled sigh of relief that he had somehow managed to beat Snape.

He continued to gasp and sputter out of breath and hunched forward, placing his hands on his knees so he could try and collect himself.

"You're late, Longbottom," drawled Snape suddenly.

Neville looked up and sure enough Professor Snape had just slinked out of the supply closet, his beady eyes flashing menacingly at Neville.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Lost track of time sir; I was in the greenhouse."

Snape stared at him hard, unblinkingly as if determining whether or not he was lying.

"It will not happen again do you understand?"

"Yes sir," mumbled Neville, his cheeks flushing.

Snape scowled at the two boys and then reentered the supply closet.

"Why weren't you at dinner?" asked Harry, turning to the other boy.

"Like I said…lost track of time; I was in the greenhouse," replied Neville, annoyed.

Harry was a quick runner up to Hermione in constantly mentioning his absences from meals and it was really starting to get on Neville's nerves.

"Since you have already done this Potter, you may stand back. Longbottom, I am going to attempt to penetrate your mind using legilimency and you will attempt to counter this by closing off your mind with occlumency."

Neville's heart began to pound; he was beginning to grow nauseous.

Snape took a step back and turned away, hands held behind his back, pacing.

Neville glanced at Harry in bewilderment and then it happened, Snape swiftly turned around catching Neville off guard, pointed his wand and shouted "LEGILIMENS!"

Neville jumped and distant memories from his past began to flash before his eyes along with Snape's sour voice bellowing in his head. _'Fight it, boy! Do something!'_

Then as if simply flipping a switch, the visions stopped and Snape's voice was gone.

Neville had no idea how he had done it but overall it had only lasted about a minute.

Snape snarled at him.

"You must be faster than that! Even a second of openness is too much! You must be on your guard at all times and be able to close your mind off at any given second!"

Snape took a step towards Neville so their faces were only inches apart and bore his black eyes into Neville's. Neville wanted to look away but found that he couldn't. It was as if Snape had him under some sort of trance.

"Clear your mind," hissed Snape.

The memories all came flooding back immediately. His first visit to St. Mungo's, his sixth birthday party, him witnessing his grandad's death and attending the funeral, Great-Uncle Algie hanging him out of the second story window, his acceptance letter from Hogwarts. It had all been so overwhelming and it was beginning to break him.

Every moment of failure his life had so far entailed was flashing before his eyes at warp speed and worst of all Snape, one of his worst enemies, was seeing all of this as well. The insignificantly worthless yet shameful memories continued.

'_Close your mind, boy!'_ Snape's voice hissed in his head again.

Neville shut his eyes and felt tears begin to trickle out.

'_Idiot boy! You must fight this or there will be nothing left! Every memory is a weapon that can be used against you!'_

Neville began to fight it. There was so much more about his life that Snape had no right to see, had no right to know. It was his mind and he had every right and need to protect it, suddenly everything stopped. Neville opened his eyes, the memories had vanished.

Snape glared at him, his jaw clenched.

"You've got a lot of work to do," he muttered.

Neville blushed.

Wonderful, now Snape had seen some of his saddest and most pathetic memories along with some of his most humiliating moments which gave him more reason to terrorize Neville on a more personal level.

Neville's eyes continued to water and he could feel more tears threatening to spill.

Neville stared down at his feet and the room remained silent.

Curious as to what was going on Neville looked up and was astonished to see that Snape's eyes were still on him only there was something different about his eyes. It took Neville a moment to figure out what that was but once he did he looked over at Harry to see if he had noticed too and he had. Harry too had been watching Snape, his eyebrows raised slightly and his lips pulled into a tight line.

What had been different was that Snape was not glaring. He was staring deep into Neville's eyes. It was chilling, for the first time in all seven years that Neville had had the misfortune of knowing Snape he could_ see_ his eyes.

They were wide and open, no longer reduced to mere, black slits and he was staring, almost as if he were searching the very depths of Neville's soul. It was very alarming and for the moment he looked nothing like himself, his black eyebrows weren't burrowed in fury and the corners of his lips were pulled down into a slight frown rather than a scowl.

He did not blink once.

Neville shot another desperate look at Harry and when he had turned to face Snape again he was relieved to find that he was once again staring into the two black slits that he had grown so accustomed to.

"Sit down," barked Snape. "Both of you."

Neville took a seat and could not shake what he had just witnessed. What had Snape been thinking in that moment? What had been going on in his head?

Snape continued to talk to them but Neville wasn't listening. Why had Snape looked at him the way he did? What did it mean?

"Longbottom! Pay attention!"

Neville snapped out of his daze and blushed.

"Yes professor."

------

Neville was now lying in bed and still couldn't get Snape's face out of his head. Neville had never witnessed any other sort of emotion other than anger emit from Snape and was confused as to what he had seen. Snape had stared at him almost as if he were taking pity on him but that just couldn't be possible. Had Snape seen something that he hadn't?

Of course the rest of their session had continued with Snape being as cruel and intolerable as usual, if not even more so.

As soon as he and Harry both returned to the common room Neville had gone straight up to bed, only he hadn't slept yet.

He reached over to his night stand and felt for his father's journal.

"_Lumos_," he whispered.

**September 26****th****, 1971**

**Francis and I got into a fight four days ago and we still aren****'****t talking. He thinks I****'****ve changed and maybe I have but in no way for the worse. I think he****'****s just jealous that I have so many friends, way more than he does but that****'****s not my fault. I see him with two girls a lot, one is tiny with long, red hair and the other is taller and sort of chubby with long, brown hair. The three of them follow around another group of Gryffindor boys. One of them is called Sirius Black. I don****'****t know what the others are called but Sirius is an alright guy, he seems to know Lucius pretty well. I failed another herbology assignment; Gran is going to have a fit once she finds out unless I can manage to keep it from her.**

Neville flipped to the next page.

**September 30****th****, 1971**

**I found out today that the red haired girl is called Lily Evans. I think she likes me.**

Neville placed the journal back onto his night stand, along with his glasses and closed his eyes.

------

When he awoke the other boys had just woken up as well and were getting dressed.

Neville rubbed his eyes, put on his glasses and slowly climbed out of bed.

The washroom door opened and the hot steam hit him.

Seamus emerged in a robe and closed the curtains around his bed to change.

A shower sounded really good to Neville, plus it would wake him up.

He grabbed his uniform and entered the washroom and was successful in avoiding the mirror. He quickly undressed, jumped in the shower and jumped back out.

'_C'mon, you know you want to look, fatty! You are weak- WEAK! The mirror does not lie. Look, I dare you!'_

Neville shook his head, trying to rid himself of the voice. He quickly threw his uniform and glasses on and opened the door, never more eager to get out.

Everyone but Dean had already left for breakfast.

Neville's stomach fell.

He quickly shifted his eyes from Dean and began to make his way out of the dorm until Dean stepped in front of him.

Neville was momentarily stunned, not because Dean was blocking his exit but because rather than find he was looking up at Dean they were eye to eye.

It was the first time Neville had really taken notice to how tall he had grown over the summer.

"Uh, listen…" Dean began quietly, avoiding Neville's eyes. "I just uh, wanted to apologize for my behavior yesterday. It was childish and incredibly stupid for me to act the way I did and to say the things I said. I already apologized to Ginny but she still won't speak to me. I didn't mean what I said, Neville…you know that right?"

When Neville didn't respond Dean continued.

"So are we still mates and all?"

"Of course we're still mates. I'm not going to hold what you said about me against you, you were angry." Neville shrugged. "Thank you for apologizing."

However, Neville _would_ be holding what Dean had said about Ginny against him. Neville really meant what he had said to Dean. If he ever heard him speak to her or anyone else that way again he'd curse his mouth right off of him.

"Yeah, I only wish Ginny would have reacted half as well as you…I need to think of how I'm going to make it up to her."

Neville's stomach twisted up in knots when Dean mentioned reconciling with Ginny.

"So, ready for our first quidditch practice?"

Neville looked up.

"Oh, yeah I'm ready. What time?"

"After lunch, speaking of which are you ready to go to breakfast?"

Neville's head began to spin. _Breakfast_.

He knew he couldn't avoid meals forever but his attempts in the previous day had been successful; although just_ hearing_ the word was like poison to him.

"You alright mate?" Dean asked, ducking his head to get a better look at Neville.

"Hmm? Oh yes, just uh- got a lot going on right now." Neville forced a tiny smile.

B_reakfast,_ what a truly dreadful word- then after that there was his session with Francis followed by advanced potions and advanced transfiguration and then_ lunch_ followed by quidditch practice and later _dinner _and his session with Snape.

"Well, I'm starving so why don't we head on down?" persuaded Dean.

Neville began to panic.

"Oh, uh- you know…now that I think about it I've got some last minute homework I need to finish and I don't have any other free time that I can get it done."

Dean frowned.

"Mate, you should probably eat some breakfast. You're going to need the energy for practice. After all, we don't need you fainting on us again."

Neville's cheeks grew warm.

He sighed heavily.

"You go on ahead. I will catch up with everyone later."

Dean hesitated and continued to stand in front of Neville.

"Well, how about I bring you something then?"

"Yeah, s-sure that's fine," replied Neville hurriedly.

He just wanted Dean to get out.

"What do you want?"

"Oh, just a couple of bagels will be okay…no cream cheese please."

"That's all?" asked Dean, displeased.

What was this? Since when had Dean ever expressed a single care about how much or little Neville ate? He was beginning to wonder if Hermione had been talking to his dorm mates behind his back because he got the feeling that they were all watching him a little more closely and he could feel their eyes on him when they thought he wasn't looking. He wasn't a child; he didn't need to be babysat. He could take care of himself.

"Yes," Neville muttered through clenched teeth.

"Alright…" replied Dean.

When he finally left, Neville flopped down on his bed with a loud thud.

This was going to be a _very_ long day.

------

When Neville walked into Francis' office Harry had been seated, waiting and Francis was nowhere to be seen. Neville took his seat next to Harry and wrung his hands out nervously. He didn't know how he was going to make it through the day.

"So…" began Harry.

Neville knew _exactly_ what he was about to ask and he squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists. If Harry knew any better then he'd just keep his mouth shut because Neville's patience was quickly beginning to wear thin and it didn't help that his day was off to a horrible start. He waited but Harry never spoke.

Neville opened his eyes to look at the other boy, who was watching him cautiously.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes," Neville sighed.

The raven haired boy remained unconvinced but said nothing.

They both sat in silence until Francis entered.

"Hello boys, sorry I'm late. We're actually going to be practicing those curses from yesterday so if you will follow me, we'll be going to the room of requirement."

They both stood up and followed Francis.

When they reached the room of requirement they stood back as Francis used his wand to summon a dueling dummy to the center of the room.

"So, who would like to go first?"

Harry and Neville exchanged nervous glances.

"Oh c'mon," teased Francis. "It may seem scary but just remember this is a crucial learning experience that a lot of other students your age will never encounter."

Neville stepped forward and raised his wand.

"Atta boy, Neville!" replied Francis slapping his nephew on the shoulder. "Now, the thing to remember is like with the other unforgivable curses you have to _mean_ it in order for it to take effect."

Francis then pointed his wand to the dummy.

"ALACRITAS!"

The dummy suddenly sprang to life and began to advance quickly towards Neville and he found to his horror that he couldn't remember the curses they had learned about the other day. He took a few steps back and racked his brain.

'_Oh honestly…you can't even manage to fight off a dummy? Pathetic!"_

"D-D-DISMERIO!" He stammered.

Only nothing happened. The dummy continued to advance towards him.

"_You have to mean it,"_ his uncle had said.

He closed his eyes and imagined that it was Bellatrix Lestrange in front of him.

He felt an unexpected fire suddenly begin to course through his veins- something similar to what he had felt the night Francis revealed to him the truth about the prophecy. He had been so angry that this had been kept from him for seventeen years.

"DISMERIO!" He bellowed, not recognizing the ferocity in his voice.

He watched in terror as the dummy froze and its limbs began to stretch slowly. Its arms and legs began to rip apart from the torso in an agonizingly sluggish fashion.

Neville squeezed his eyes shut and tried as hard as he could to not imagine this happening to an actual person.

Finally, after about another minute passed there was a deafening rip as each limb finally broke away from the body followed by a sickening thud as the dummy fell to the floor.

"Very good," replied Francis darkly. "Now you Harry."

Harry stepped forward and drew his wand.

Francis pointed his wand down at the limbless dummy.

"ALACRITAS!"

The dummy jumped back up, good as new with fully attached limbs and began to advance towards Harry.

Without any hesitation Harry pointed his wand at the dummy.

"PUNCTURIO!"

There was another loud rip as a long, deep slash appeared on the dummy's chest, as if it'd been sliced with an invisible sword.

"Excellent!" Exclaimed Francis. "You boys are off to a great start."

Neville and Harry both took turns administering the remaining curses on the dummy over and over until Francis decided they had done enough for the day.

"Alright boys great first lesson, you are free to go."

Neville told Harry to go on without him and he lingered back until his uncle turned around to face him, surprised to see that he hadn't left.

"How are you?"

"Fine…" replied Neville.

"Anything new?"

"Well, my first quidditch practice is today after lunch."

"Ah, that should be exciting."

Neville cleared his throat. Taking a cue from Dean he decided to apologize to Francis for being so rude when he ran into him yesterday during lunch.

"Um, I just wanted to apologize about my behavior yesterday…I shouldn't have snapped at you like I did. I'm really embarrassed for the way I acted."

"Oh don't worry about it. You were having an off day I presume? We all are allowed a few of those," replied Francis with a small grin.

"Maybe but it doesn't excuse the disrespect I handed over to you," mumbled Neville.

"Well, all is forgiven."

"Are you free later tonight?" Neville asked optimistically. "Maybe we could talk more?"

"Of course," replied Francis with a warm smile. "My door is always open to you, Neville. Any time day or night, in fact you don't even have to ask."

Neville returned the smile.

"Thanks."

------

Neville had just gotten out of Advanced Transfiguration and was on his way to the common room when he felt someone grab his arm and spin him around.

It was Hermione. Her face was twisted with worry.

"Neville, have you been avoiding me?"

"No…why?"

"I'm worried about you."

"As I've been telling you Hermione, you shouldn't be because I am fine."

Neville continued walking as he spoke until Hermione hooked her arm around his elbow and pulled him to a halt a few feet away from the common room entrance.

"Neville," she began slowly, her eyes burning into his. "You haven't been eating and I want to know why."

"Wha- but- no I have been eating!"

"Really? Then where were you during lunch and dinner yesterday and breakfast today?"

Neville rolled his eyes.

"I've been busy-"

"Neville, we're all busy in one way or another but not too busy to eat."

Neville needed to find a way out of this conversation _now_. He needed to quickly give her an answer she'd accept and avert her attention to another topic.

He put on his most charming smile and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Look, Hermione I really appreciate your concern but I'm fine, just a little stressed is all and when I get stressed sometimes I forget to eat. I really don't want to be a bother to anyone by having them worry so please do me a favor and take my word for it."

"Well, why didn't you just say so…if you're stressed you need to talk to someone who can help you manage it," she replied.

It was working. Neville may just get out of this scot-free.

"I know," he nodded. "I know. I'll talk to Francis but look I am going to rest for a little bit before quidditch practice. I'll see you later."

"At lunch," Hermione stated, staring hard at him.

Neville smiled.

"I'll see you at lunch."

Hermione studied him for a moment longer and finally cracked a tiny smile. She seemed content with what he had told her but did she believe him?

Neville didn't have time to worry about that right now.

When he retreated up to the dorm he found that Ron had been sitting on his bed working on what appeared to be an essay, most likely an overdue one.

"Hello Ron."

"Hi, listen has Hermione mentioned anything about me to you lately?"

"No…"

"Oh." Ron's face fell with disappointment.

He slammed his text book shut and got up, abandoning his essay.

Ron walked over towards Neville's bed and leaned against one of the posts.

"I heard what you did for Ginny yesterday," began Ron.

Neville stared at him in surprise.

"You did?"

"Yeah, she told me about it and if Dean doesn't stop being such a stupid git to her then I may just have to knock some sense into him myself…" And with that Ron cracked his knuckles menacingly. "Well, that is if you don't get to him first." He finished with a grin.

Neville chuckled.

"Really though, thank you for standing up for her."

"Oh, it was nothing…I would have done it for any of you guys," replied Neville, as a blush crept up his cheeks.

Ron pulled out a couple of candy bars and offered one to Neville.

"No thanks."

Neville looked up just in time to see that Ron had thrown the wrapper away and was now rummaging through the trash bin.

Neville began to panic but remained frozen and could only watch in horror as everything unfolded. Neville could do nothing to prevent Ron from what he was about to find.

"Neville, are you mad? Why would you throw away this perfectly good-"

Ron paused and placed what he was_ originally_ going to show Neville aside- a perfectly good broom catalog and held two plain bagels out in front of Neville, looking truly perplexed.

"What're _these_ doing in here?"

Neville mentally scolded himself although it actually wasn't his fault this time. How was he supposed to know that Ron would go snooping through the trash! Of all things Neville could have covered the bagels up with he _had_ to choose a broom catalog.

'_You are an IDIOT!_'

"Oh," Neville began forcing a small laugh. "It's quite silly actually. You see, um Dean brought those up for me earlier for breakfast and I forgot about them and by the time I got back up here they were too stale to eat."

This was believable enough he had decided but he held his breath anyways.

Ron's forehead wrinkled as his eyebrows rose, although it didn't seem to be in disbelief but rather the fact that he was wrestling with the question as to how anyone could _forget _they had food and also the fact that two perfectly good bagels were wasted.

Ron dropped the bagels back into the trash bin and didn't mention another word about his peculiar discovery. In fact, he continued chit chatting with Neville as if nothing out of the ordinary had just occurred and Neville could breathe again. What a relief!

As much as he liked Ron, what he liked even more was that Ron was very non-observant and non-confrontational. Also, he was very gullible. Neville didn't think anyone else would have believed him. This was strike number two, number one had been when Hermione cornered him earlier for her interrogation and now he was going to have to watch himself more than ever.

Neville and Ron eventually went down to the common room where Harry and Hermione were quietly relaxing before lunch.

------

Neville lifted his head out of the toilet and flushed.

He stood up, splashed some cold water on his face and readjusted his crooked glasses.

He had kept his promise to Hermione by making an appearance at lunch and he had been immediately bombarded with questions as to where he'd been by his fellow Gryffindors.

He ended up wolfing down three servings of food_ plus_ dessert and before the initial disgust even had time to set in he had rushed off to the washroom.

Neville's nerves were beginning to come into play.

He had to hurry down to the quidditch pitch so he wouldn't be late. When he arrived Gertrude and Gabe were already on the field flying on their brooms.

Instinctively, Neville turned around to see that Ginny was barreling down the hill and a desperate looking Dean was running after her.

"Hello Neville," she smiled sweetly at him.

"Hi Ginny."

"So did Dean apologize to you?"

Neville looked at her stunned.

"How did you-"

"Because he tried to apologize to me so I was just wondering if he apologized to you as well."

"Er, yes he did."

Dean let out an exaggerated sigh and walked past them.

"He's not getting off this time," replied Ginny softly. "By the way…I never got a chance to thank you considering you ran off so quickly."

"There's no need Ginny."

"_Yes_ there is," she replied as she playfully slugged him. "So thank you."

Neville blushed.

"You're welcome."

"It was nice seeing you at lunch today," she began. "You've been so hard to keep track of lately."

"Yeah well, I'm not normally this busy. It's quite new to me still."

"I bet."

"Alright! Are we ready to practice?" called Dean, who looked agitated about the fact that Ginny was still ignoring him and that she was talking to Neville.

They mounted their brooms and got into their positions.

After about forty-five minutes Dean called it a day.

"Amazing effort guys! You all were great out there so how about we practice again in two days?" he called.

"You were great Neville," replied Ginny as they walked back up to Hogwarts.

He blushed.

"Not nearly as great as you were."

"Oh honestly Neville you are much too kind."

"Listen Ginny…" began Neville slowly, taking a side glance at her before he continued.

Ginny suddenly stopped walking and waited for him to continue.

"What are you doing right now?"

His heart pounded wildly in his chest and he felt as if he were going to faint.

Her eyebrows rose in interest.

"Nothing."

"Well, I was wondering if you'd come to the greenhouse with me…there's something there I'd like to show you that I could really use your opinion on."

A huge smile spread across her face.

"Alright," she agreed.

When they reached the greenhouse they set their brooms to the side and entered.

Ginny gasped.

She couldn't even begin to describe the beauty of all of the plants that flourished inside.

There were so many different breeds and colors- blue, red, purple, yellow, pink, orange and obviously green. It was all so vibrant and still, as if she had just walked into a gigantic watercolor painting.

She turned to Neville in awe.

"Are all of these…_your _plants?"

Neville nodded and smiled at her with a hint of pride.

"Yes, every single one. I planted them all myself."

"This is…this is amazing, Neville…truly! God, it must take _a lot_ of dedication and patience to keep everything in tact."

"It comes with the trade but I enjoy doing it."

Ginny began to walk around and observe all of the plants.

She had personally never found herbology interesting and hated having to work in the greenhouse but not now. She thought it was miraculous how Neville was capable of creating such breathtakingly exquisite life.

Neville came up behind her and spoke quietly as not to startle her.

"When I ran off so quickly yesterday…this is where I came. This is sort of uh, my sanctuary. I know I can come here whenever I please and not have to worry about anything at all. I come here sometimes just to be alone with my plants, knowing that they need me to help nurture them and it feels good to do so."

Ginny turned around to face him.

"I'm so glad you showed this to me."

"Oh, but this isn't what I wanted to show you. C'mere."

Ginny followed Neville to the other end of the greenhouse. They stopped in front of a rather small and delicate plant. Its stem and leaves were the liveliest green color Ginny had ever seen and its flower petals were a mixture of pink, red and electric blue. Also, on either side of the plant mounted deep within the dirt were two more thick stems covered in thorns that curved into two tiny circles. It was the most bizarre looking plant that Ginny had ever seen in her life but at the same time it was exotic and enigmatic and so full of life. Ginny was captivated by it.

"It's a crossbreed I've been working on," Neville replied, watching Ginny closely as she reached out to touch it.

"Be careful," he warned her. "Those thorns are sharp. You have to handle it by the main stem here at the bottom."

"Wow. It's brilliant…" she breathed, as she lightly brushed her fingertips across the flower petals and brought her nose down to smell the plant.

It smelled wonderful! Better than any perfume she had ever spritzed on herself.

"You think?"

"Yes…I never really appreciated any of this stuff until now."

"Yeah, a lot of people don't…but it's okay. I guess that is why there are people like me in the world…" Neville answered softly.

He picked up the pot that the plant was embedded in and handed it to Ginny.

"Here, it's yours."

Ginny's mouth dropped.

"Neville, I-I can't take this…"

"Yes you can and you will. Let's just say it's a late birthday present."

Ginny beamed up at him.

"You're amazing Neville, you know that?"

------

The rest of the day had moved rather slowly and it was now time for dinner.

Neville had to plan ahead what he was going to eat so he could get into the washroom in plenty of time so that he wouldn't be late again for his session with Snape.

Everyone chattered amongst themselves as if Neville wasn't even there and that's the way he preferred it; the less attention on him the better.

He quickly shoveled all of the contents of his first serving into his mouth and began on seconds and then thirds and to his horror fourths.

Neville fell back and groaned.

"Alright there, mate?" asked Ron, who had been wrapped up in a rather private conversation with Hermione.

"Yeah," he replied weakly.

"Neville, you don't look very well…" added Hermione.

"I'm fine."

"Maybe you should go see Madame Pomfrey," she continued warily.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea. I think I will."

Neville slowly stood up and exited the Great Hall and once he was out of view he broke into a run and once he reached the dorm and threw himself into the washroom.

He lunged for the toilet and allowed his stomach contents to expel from his body.

This was an all time low for him. He had indulged in thirds many times but_ never_ fourths.

The level of repulsion he felt however was at an all time high. Even after twenty minutes of endless purging his stomach still felt vastly swollen and round and he couldn't stand it. It was the ultimate indication of failure. He was livid with himself for allowing this to happen. What had come over him? What had he become?

He stared down at the revolting mess in the toilet and cringed. This mess in the toilet reflected on what his life had become, no what it has always been- a large heap of regurgitated disasters.

Neville pulled out his pocket watch.

8:15.

So much for not being late for his session with Snape; he rested his head on the lip of the toilet and began to laugh darkly.

Why should he care? What was the point?

What was Snape going to do? Make his life even more miserable? There was nothing more the nasty potions master could do to make his life worse than it already was.

'_Is this all you've got? This is just sad! You are nowhere near safe yet! There is still so much more filth inside of you…just coursing through your body. All of that food is turning into sludge and ruining your insides, turning everything it touches into fat! Fat…FAT…FAT! You can't win…you can't stop it. It's too late!'_

Neville wiped the sweat off of his forehead and forced himself up over the toilet once more. Just because he felt like giving up on everything else didn't mean he had to give up on this. He had worked so hard in transforming himself physically and he was not about to let one slip of gluttony ruin everything. After all, this was all he had.

He heaved to the point of collapse. His body had never endured this much abuse before, his muscles ached, his head throbbed, his vision was blurred and his throat burned as if he'd consumed an entire bottle of fire whiskey but it would all prove to be worthwhile.

Finally, after five more minutes of purging nothing but his own watery saliva he fell back, satisfied.

He lay on his back for another good ten minutes, savoring the bliss he now felt. Immense feelings of gratification and accomplishment washed over him and momentarily replaced the resulting exhaustion and destruction his body was now left with.

He pulled out his pocket watch again.

8:45.

Neville couldn't think of anything else nor did he want to. The only thing he wanted to think about was his nice, warm and welcoming bed waiting for him outside of this door.

He finally pulled himself up and flushed the mess along with all of his troubles down the toilet. He jumped in the shower, brushed his teeth and was grateful to find the dorm empty when he opened the door. He threw on his pajamas, closed the curtains around his bed and fell into an effortless sleep.

------

**Author's Note: **Whew! It's been awhile since I last updated! So here we are finally with chapter 13. Notice how as Neville gets sucked deeper into his ED that he becomes less and less like himself? For example, him saying 'F#CK YOU!' to Snape by skipping his session! *Gasp* And believe me when I say…it will only get worse from here. :(

Anywho, thanks for reading and keep the feedback/reviews coming! It feeds me so that I can write more- faster! Up next, chapter 14!


	14. Innovations

**Chapter 14: **Innovations

Neville was awoken to someone shaking him.

"Wha- what? I'm up…I'm up," he mumbled, sitting up and putting his glasses on.

It was Harry.

"Where were you last night? Snape was pretty pissed that you didn't show up. Actually, pissed doesn't even begin to describe it…"

"I just didn't feel like going," he replied hoarsely.

"Well, I hope you plan on working up a better excuse than that once Snape finds you…"

Neville scoffed and fell back onto his bed.

"C'mon, get dressed. Everyone else is already at breakfast."

"_M'not hungry_…" muttered Neville, pulling his pillow over his head and turning over.

"Alright, suit yourself."

Once he heard Harry's footsteps retreat he slowly sat up and groaned.

He felt like shit and his throat was killing him. It was burning just as horribly as it had last night. He got up, grabbed a clean uniform and entered the washroom for a shower.

'_Go on, look in the mirror you coward! You know you want to look and see how fat you still are! I bet you've added another chin! A few more rolls!'_

It took all of his willpower to keep from looking in the mirror because he knew that if he did then he wouldn't be able to look away.

Neville made his way to his uncle's office. He figured that since he didn't visit him last night that he'd visit with him before their session.

The door was open so Neville walked in and sat down.

"Good morning, Neville. How are you this morn- oh, you don't look so good."

Neville smirked.

"Don't feel so great either," he croaked.

Francis frowned.

"You sound terrible…"

"I know," he replied and winced.

His throat had never bothered him this badly before at least never to the point to where it hurt to simply even speak.

"Would you like some tea? Maybe that'll help."

Neville nodded and accepted a cup.

"So, how was quidditch practice?"

Neville gave his uncle a thumbs up with his free hand while he slowly sipped his tea.

"If you don't feel like having a session today we can skip it…you should probably go see Madame Pomfrey and get some rest."

Neville shook his head.

"No," he whispered. "I uh, can't miss any more sessions…"

Francis' eyebrows rose.

"Can't miss anymore? Oh dear…"

"I've only missed _one_. I skipped Snape's session last night and from what Harry told me this morning he's _not_ happy about it…"

"Neville, this is so very crucial for you, you realize this right? I understand that you don't want to do this and that it's a lot to handle but you've got to take this seriously."

Francis sighed.

"Would you like me to have a word with Severus?"

Neville shook his head again.

"Have you had breakfast?"

"No…" replied Neville, as he began massaging his raw throat.

"There is a meeting today with the order after lunch and Dumbledore would like you and Harry both to attend. Your presence isn't required but it would be nice for you both to know what's going on…so just think about it."

Neville nodded.

Harry arrived a few minutes later and Francis wasted no time getting into their session.

------

Neville was immediately drawn to Ginny's fiery red ponytail hanging over the couch.

He sat down next to her and noticed that she looked very upset.

"Hey," she greeted him trying to hide whatever it was that was troubling her. "I love the plant you gave me. I put it right by my bed…did you know it glows? It's like my own personal night light. It's so cool."

Neville grinned.

"How are you?" he asked softly, trying not to strain his already damaged voice.

"I've been better," she answered honestly.

Neville frowned.

"You certainly look like you've been better. What's wrong?"

"Oh Neville! You sound awful!"

"Don't worry about me…" he replied sheepishly. "I'll be fine."

"Would you like me to make you some tea? Have you seen Madame Pomfrey?"

"No thank you and no I haven't."

Ginny sighed.

"So I finally gave Dean a chance to apologize…so now we're talking and everything but I just can't let go of what he said. I'm still just so angry and for him it's as if nothing happened and I just can't get over it as easily as he can. Also, now that we _are_ talking again he's back to his old self…the only time he's ever civil is if I'm angry with him…I can forgive him but I'll_ never forget_ what he said."

She spoke in a calm manner but her body language told a different story. Her hands were shaking slightly and she was tapping her foot incessantly.

She looked as if she had just rolled out of bed. Her hair was pulled back in a disheveled ponytail and she had slight traces of bags under her tired eyes.

Neville still thought she was beautiful. In fact, he didn't think there was anything that could ever make her not be beautiful. She was perfect in every way.

Ginny bit her lip and gazed at him curiously.

"Sometimes I wonder why I keep wasting my time on him but then I feel guilty for thinking like that because I love him and I know he loves me…"

Neville could tell that Ginny was really struggling with a large conflict within herself and he reached out to grab her hand but quickly pulled away, hoping she hadn't noticed. She stared down at her hands and waited for Neville to speak.

"Oh I hate boring you with all of this Neville."

"You aren't boring me Ginny."

"Yeah right."

"I assure you…if you were boring me there are _plenty_ of other things I could be doing. For one, I could be finishing Henchul Raven's rather fascinating novel on the one thousand and one ways for me to improve my garden or two; I could _actually_ be putting those one thousand and one ways to use_ in_ my garden…"

Ginny giggled.

"Hey, that is quite fun for me…_but_ I'd still rather listen to you supposedly _bore_ me."

Ginny smiled.

It was the first time she had smiled all day.

Neville always knew how to cheer her up.

About a half hour later Dean came in and eyed them suspiciously before asking Ginny if he could talk to her alone.

"I'll see you later, okay Neville?"

"See you."

Neville looked down at his pocket watch.

11:20.

He knew he wasn't going to be able to eat anything for lunch because of his throat so he decided that he could use this time to work out at the fitness center.

As soon as he reached the fitness center he was disappointed to find that there were others using it as well. There were a couple of people in the pool and quite a few more in the weight room. Neville sucked it up and entered the locker room.

Since swimming was absolutely out of the question he decided on a run.

He threw on an old t-shirt and a pair of sweats and got on a treadmill.

"Neville! It's nice to see that another one of our players actually uses the fitness center."

Neville turned around to see Parvati pedaling on a bike behind him.

"Hello Parvati. Yeah, this is really nice…I was here a couple of days ago and snuck in last year but it looks like they've added a bit more to it."

She got off the bike and got on a treadmill next to Neville.

They both started off with a light jog and continued to chat.

"So…" began Parvati in a tone that suggested she was about to spill the latest gossip.

"I know someone who happens to like you."

"_Me_?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Oh, phft…okay."

"_Fine_ but don't come asking me later on who it is because I won't tell you."

"I don't plan on it," he croaked.

Parvati turned to stare at him for as long as she could before she had to turn back and watch what she was doing.

"You mean you honestly don't care?"

By now Neville had sped up to an actual run and Parvati was struggling to keep up.

"It's Lavender!" she exclaimed out of breath.

"Lavender?" he questioned.

"Yes…I wasn't supposed to tell you…"

Neville thought about this for a moment.

Lavender Brown liked him? The same Lavender Brown that would have never given him the time of day as little as a year ago?

"So…" prodded Parvati. "Do you like her?"

"Dunno…"

"What do you mean you don't know? Either you do or you don't?"

Eventually Parvati gave up as she was unable to neither talk to him nor keep up.

She stopped the machine and gasped for breath.

"How can you still be going?" She exclaimed. "I feel like I'm going to die!"

Neville hadn't heard her.

She tapped him on the shoulder and he turned towards her, slowing the machine down.

"It's lunch time," she informed him.

Neville sped back up.

"I can't eat until I get rid of this sore throat! The only thing that helps is tea!" He replied quickly.

Luckily Parvati didn't have the energy to question him.

"Alright, see you later then," she called.

"Bye!"

His chest and lungs were beginning to burn and his knees felt about ready to give out but he kept running. The burn was excruciating but at the same time it felt good. This meant that he was burning calories and_ fat_.

He ran for another twenty minutes and finally decided that he had had enough. He desperately chugged the rest of his water and stepped off the treadmill. He must have stepped off too fast because the next thing he knew he was on the ground.

"Oy!"

Neville could hear someone running over to him.

He found himself staring up at quite a muscular seventh year Ravenclaw whose name was Timothy Brenner. He had long blonde hair and bright green eyes.

All of the girls fawned over him.

"Wotcher- _easy_,_ easy_-"

He had effortlessly lifted Neville to his feet and helped him over to the locker room where he sat him down on a bench.

Timothy watched him for a few moments.

"Neville isn't it?"

Neville gawked up at him in shock.

"Yes…"

How in the world did Timothy Brenner know _his _name?

"Yeah, I think we had Herbology together in our fifth year," stated Timothy.

"Oh…"

Neville blushed.

He felt rude for not being able to remember but he didn't want to just sit there like an idiot so he glanced up at him and nodded.

"Yeah," confirmed Neville.

"So…think you're going to be okay? Do you need me to take you to the hospital wing?"

"No thanks…I'll be fine."

"Well, you need to be more careful…you're lucky I was here…"

Neville thanked him once more and assured him he had recovered.

As soon as Timothy left Neville searched the fitness center and found that other than himself it was empty, just the way he liked it.

He peeled off his drenched work out clothes and got in the shower.

Once he stepped out he wrapped himself in a towel and there were the mirrors all around him- _taunting_ him, _scrutinizing_ him.

'_Go on fatty! It's about time you had a good look at yourself!'_

Slowly he pulled the towel down to his waist and walked up to the mirror in front of him.

He first began by pinching the skin of his various chins and then moved down to the flab on his stomach. He sighed and turned to the side as if that would somehow make him look thinner, which it didn't.

He couldn't see any difference from the last time he had been in here.

'_You are so disgusting. You ought to be ashamed at how you've let yourself go. You've got to try harder! You aren't going to get any thinner by stuffing your face as much as you do! You aren't trying hard enough, squib!'_

He walked over to the scale and cautiously stepped on.

He took a deep breath before moving the weights.

One hundred and fifty-five pounds.

How had this been possible? This couldn't be right.

Neville stepped off and then back on again but it read the same.

According to the scale he had lost three pounds since he last weighed himself but he didn't think he looked any thinner. Whatever the reason Neville opted to go with the scale and although it still seemed like a lot of weight all that mattered was that the numbers had gone down. His mood was instantly uplifted.

He quickly threw on his clothes and left with a genuine smile on his face.

------

Neville met up with Harry after his work out and they both decided to attend the meeting with the order. They found Francis and followed him outside of Hogwarts' gates and were whisked away to number 12 Grimmauld place.

When they arrived they followed Francis inside and down the hall to what looked to be a dining hall. There was a large rectangular table where Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Nymphadora Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody and Fred and George Weasley all sat.

Francis walked in and took a seat next to Mad-Eye, Harry immediately went and embraced his godfather and Neville hung back, suddenly feeling very shy.

"Oy, Neville…that you mate?"

Neville looked up and saw that one of the Weasley twins had called out to him.

Neville walked over to them and smiled timidly.

"You got glasses!" George observed.

"Yeah and lost like half of your body weight!" Fred added.

Neville blushed furiously and sat down next to Fred, hoping that if he sat no one else would notice him and the comments would end.

Boy was he ever wrong.

"Neville Longbottom? C'mon now, don't be a stranger! Let us get a look at ya!"

Sirius Black was waving him over from the other end of the table.

His blush deepened as he stood up and walked over to Sirius and held out his hand which Sirius took and shook firmly.

"My you're a handsome lad…just like Frank was…oh and of course just like Francis_ is_," Sirius added, playfully punching Francis on the arm. "Although, you've got your mother's face…hardly recognized you. You've gotten so tall."

"T-thank you," Neville mumbled.

"Where'd the rest of you go boy?" Mad-Eye shouted at him suddenly from a few chairs down. "There was more of you the last time I saw you!"

It was official once again. Neville wanted to die.

By now his face was probably as red as Fred and George's hair.

"Oh leave the boy alone, Moody! I think he's been embarrassed enough for one day! Haven't you kiddo?" Tonks asked him with a wink.

Neville gave her a tiny smile and began thanking her endlessly in his head.

"How are you doing Neville?" asked Remus quietly, his dark eyes studying the boy carefully.

"Fine professor."

"I'm not your professor anymore Neville. Please call me Remus," he replied kindly.

Neville nodded and sat down next to his uncle.

They all continued chatting while they waited on Dumbledore to arrive. About five minutes later there was still no sign of Dumbledore but Snape had just walked in looking miserable and irritated as usual.

His eyes immediately locked onto Neville's and his face twisted with rage.

"Longbottom…" he drawled. "A word _now_."

Everyone stopped talking and watched as Neville got up and stumbled over to Snape who grabbed him by his collar and dragged him out of the room.

Francis immediately stood up to follow them but Sirius pulled him back down.

"Wait," Sirius began. "If they are gone for more than five minutes then someone will go see what's going on."

------

Snape dragged Neville into a tiny study down the hall, threw him in a chair and slammed the door.

"You better start explaining _now_!"

"I-I'm really sorry P-Professor Sna-"

"I don't believe I asked for an _apology_! Explain yourself!"

Neville sucked in a deep breath.

He hadn't even had time to prepare a good let alone believable lie so for a brief moment he considered telling a slight fabrication of the truth.

No, Snape didn't deserve the truth he decided.

"Well, you see I uh…well, if you want the truth I don't have an excuse."

Snape raised a single eyebrow in suspicion and then leaned down; placing both hands on the chair's arm rests and brought his face to Neville's.

"That's not good enough!"

"Okay, if you want to know I was in the greenhouse," he muttered hoarsely.

Neville cringed as a stabbing pain ripped through his throat with each word he spoke.

He was beginning to lose his voice again.

Snape's face twisted with disgust.

"I will ask again…what pray tell was more important than our scheduled session?"

"Er, n-nothing…I was in the greenhouse and just lost track of time again."

"Why do I feel as though I don't believe you Longbottom?"

"I-I don't know sir."

"Well I'll tell you why…you're lying! Now tell me the truth!"

"I'm not lying! I lost track of time-"

"Oh you're_ lying_ Longbottom! You're a liar!"

"N-no…look I'm sorry it won't happen again I promise."

"A horrible one at that…" Snape continued with his black eyes narrowed menacingly. "Just like_ your_ _father_."

Neville's blood boiled at the tone in which Snape mentioned his dad.

Snape stood up and began pacing around the room.

"I suggest you start speaking Longbottom unless you'd like me to begin taking points away for each additional lie!"

"Alright," murmured Neville in defeat. "I was sick…"

"Sick?" Snape echoed, his tone less severe. "So if I were to speak with Madame Pomfrey once we return to Hogwarts she would confirm your claim?"

"Well, no not exactly…you see sir; I didn't go see Madame Pomfrey. I just- I was sick so I went to bed."

Snape glared at him without speaking.

------

Francis sighed and looked down at his watch.

Three minutes had passed.

"This is all because Neville didn't go to his session with Severus last night."

"Why?" asked Remus.

"He never said…Harry did he say anything to you about why he didn't go?"

Harry hesitated and then spoke.

"Well, this morning he told me he just didn't feel like going."

"I don't know what's going on with that boy…he knows better," replied Francis shaking his head.

"He hasn't been himself lately," continued Harry. "I can't explain it but something's off. Everyone's noticed, especially Hermione but no one can figure it out."

"Wonderful…" muttered Francis as he removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Harry got up and went over to sit with Fred and George.

"Well…he_ is _a teenager," offered Sirius. "It's possible that it's just hormones."

"He should be over that by now though…he's seventeen," answered Francis.

"Not if he's a late bloomer," Remus added.

"I just get the feeling that there's something more going on with him…" began Francis. "Something deeper, I can see it in his eyes…he just looks so lost."

"Who isn't lost at that age though?" Tonks replied, jumping into the conversation. "This is a tough age…add the fact that he was _this_ close to being the boy who lived…that's a lot to live up to."

"What about speaking with your mum?" Remus suggested. "Maybe she knows something."

"We're estranged," muttered Francis bitterly. "And I doubt it. She's so self-absorbed that she wouldn't notice if anything were wrong with him until it were too late."

Sirius scoffed.

"So what if you're estranged! You haven't seen her in what- nearly twenty years? What could it hurt?"

"Oh, no…believe me my mother is a woman of her word. She said she had no second son and she meant it…"

Francis looked down at his watch again.

Four and a half minutes.

"Have you asked Neville if there is anything troubling him?" asked Remus.

Francis sighed again.

"Yes and the answer is always the same. I've offered for him to come and talk to me whenever and we do talk…but not about anything that could indicate that something may be wrong. He's just so reserved all of his thoughts and secrets are just clammed up tight."

"He's lost quite an awful lot of weight…" Remus observed. "At least since I last saw him. Neville's always been a bit…" He stopped himself so he could choose his words carefully, as if to keep from offending Neville even though he wasn't even in the room.

Francis watched the other man thoughtfully, waiting for him to continue.

"Well, he took after Alice when she was younger…_you know_…"

"Right," replied Francis.

At just that moment Neville reentered the room closely followed by an even crosser looking Snape.

Neville retook his seat next to Francis and let his head fall onto the table.

Francis began to gently rub the boy's back.

"What happened?" he whispered so only Neville could hear.

"Don't ask…" he muttered.

"Good afternoon everyone and I apologize for my tardiness. Are we ready to begin today's meeting?"

Dumbledore took his seat at the end of the table so that he was facing everyone.

"Ah, very nice of you to join us today Mr. Potter and Mr. Longbottom. Welcome. So before we begin I believe Nymphadora, you've got some valuable information that you'd like to share?"

"Yes Albus, yesterday I overheard that the Death Eaters are planning an attack to overtake the Ministry and from there they plan to send Dementors to Azkaban to release the prisoners there. They've already recruited at least a hundred new members and are expanding by the day. So I think we need to keep an extra close eye out. I'll be returning to the Ministry tonight and see if I can't find anyone or anything that looks as though it doesn't belong."

"Very good as Nymphadora has just explained we all need to keep our eyes and ears open and anyone or anything that appears suspicious is to be immediately reported to me. I will report your findings to Cornelius immediately and have them on high alert."

"Albus, if I might make a suggestion?"

"Always Severus."

"I could make myself quite useful by standing guard at the Ministry for however long you need me to. That way Nymphadora could be of use in a less hostile location."

Tonks frowned at Snape's suggestion.

"She would stand out like a sore thumb and the Death Eaters would immediately know we were on to them whereas if I were there they wouldn't suspect a thing."

"I think that is a marvelous idea Severus."

Neville wanted to jump up and shout with joy.

If Snape was at the Ministry then that meant he wouldn't have to worry about his sessions with him for a day or two.

The rest of the meeting lasted for about another half hour and then he, Harry, Francis and Professor Dumbledore all returned to Hogwarts.

To Neville's delight, Snape did not return with them and would be under cover at the Ministry for the next several days but he didn't want to get his hopes up.

------

While everyone else departed for dinner Neville decided to hide in the dorm, mainly to avoid Hermione whom he knew would cause a scene at him skipping yet another meal.

He lay down on his bed and closed his eyes.

------

Neville woke up and discovered his throat still burned a little.

He must have been really tired because he fell asleep immediately and slept all through the night without any disturbances.

He looked down at his pocket watch.

Only five minutes left for breakfast.

He jumped out of bed and threw on his clothes and hurried to Francis' office.

------

The day dragged on and Neville was successful in avoiding Hermione.

He knew that she wasn't going to buy his excuses for missing meals much longer and he needed to devise a plan to distract her. If only she would ignore him like everyone else.

It was now lunch time and he hid in the dorm again until everyone had left and then went down to the common room to read his book.

About five minutes later someone entered. Neville prayed it wasn't Hermione.

"I thought I'd find you in here."

Neville turned around and smiled.

"Hey Ginny."

"So you still aren't feeling well I imagine?"

"My throat still hurts but not as bad."

"Well, that's good mind if I join you?"

"No of course not sit down."

Ginny sat down next to him and stared into the empty fireplace.

"Have you eaten?" he asked her.

"Oh, I'm not hungry," replied Ginny with a sigh.

Neville noticed that she had the same troubled look on her face as the day before.

He marked his page and set the book down.

"So, are things any better with Dean?" he asked.

"No…"

Neville felt a pang of guilt shoot through him as he discovered that he didn't want things to work out for them. Which was selfish, he should have wanted what was best for Ginny, although he knew Dean wasn't what was best for Ginny but it seemed sometimes she thought otherwise. Every time she came to him about her troubles with Dean he found himself disappointed that it never ended up being about them breaking up.

Maybe_ this _time was different. Maybe they had finally broken it off.

"I want this to work," she began.

Neville's heart sank. So much for this time being different.

"But he doesn't seem to understand how unhappy I am."

"Why are you unhappy?" asked Neville.

She sighed.

"I don't know. It's hard to explain. I love Dean so much but I'm getting rather tired of putting up with him. I guess I just don't know when to determine when enough is enough. I guess I just keep hoping that he will change. I mean, things weren't always like this. When we first began dating he was so romantic and sweet…I guess I'm still holding on to that part of him and am just waiting for it to come back."

Neville nodded.

She bit her lip and let her head fall into her hands.

"This is so stupid," she continued, her voice muffled through her hands. "I shouldn't be putting up with this bullshit and I shouldn't be complaining to you when I can put an end to it but I don't want to hurt him…"

Neville reached out for her hand but she lifted her head up and he quickly pulled it away.

"You're a smart girl, Ginny. You'll figure out what to do."

"What would you do if you were me…er or in my situation at least?"

Neville stared at her blankly, completely taken by surprise.

He hated being put on the spot like this.

"Well…I can't exactly say," he started honestly. "But if I really cared about this person and I knew they felt the same about me then I would do everything in my power to make it work."

Ginny let out a frustrated groan.

Again, without realizing it Neville reached out to grab her hand but quickly pulled back.

'_What are you doing?!'_

He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Enough about me…how are you?"

"Fine," he replied dully.

Suddenly she turned to him and observed him closely with narrowed eyes.

"Have you lost more weight?"

His stomach fell.

"No…at least I don't think so."

"You definitely look thinner."

Neville scoffed.

"Well, I feel anything but…" he muttered.

Her eyebrows rose with alarm and she waited for him to continue.

When he didn't she spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"So anything you'd like to get off your chest? Goodness knows I blab to you enough."

"No, not really…" he replied.

"I'd love to watch you work in the greenhouse sometime…" began Ginny quietly. "Whenever you have some free time that is if you don't mind."

Neville turned to her, surprised.

Had she really just said she wanted to watch him work in the greenhouse?

He was beyond flattered and replayed those words in his head over and over before responding.

"Of course you can watch me…I just- I think you'd find yourself bored within the first five minutes."

She grinned.

"You'd be surprised at what I can endure."

He smiled back at her.

"Actually…" he began. "I'm free now if you want to go."

"I'd love to."

------

**Author's Note: **Yes I know this is kind of a cheesy ending but what can I say? The past few chapters have been sort of dark so I wanted to lighten things up a bit! Chapter 15 to follow soon! Thanks for reading and please be sure to review!!! :)


	15. Confrontation

**Chapter 15: **Confrontation

Neville and Ginny had just returned from the greenhouse when they heard the un-dismissible sniggers of Slytherins behind them, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle to be exact.

"Well well well…look what we have here. Where's Potter, Longbottom? Isn't it about time for hero-worship hour?"

Neville shut his eyes and gritted his teeth.

Now was definitely not the time to be harassed by Malfoy.

Neville ignored Malfoy and he and Ginny continued walking.

"Scared Longbottom? I see you aren't so brave when Potter isn't around to protect you. It's actually quite pathetic…"

Neville stopped dead in his tracks and clenched his fists.

"Oh? Have I struck a nerve Longbottom? Or are you just inclined to react stupidly to insults?"

Neville swiftly turned around and made his way over to the three Slytherins.

"Oh, it looks like you _can_ take action when Potter isn't around…or is he going to show up out of nowhere and save the day yet again?"

"Shove it, Malfoy," muttered Ginny from a few feet behind Neville.

"Well if it isn't the littlest weasel…how pitiful. So if Potter can't come around you need _her_ to protect you do you Longbottom?"

"Shut up Malfoy! I suggest you turn around and walk away now unless you want another taste of my bat-bogey hex…"

Malfoy glared and started walking towards Ginny.

"_I_ suggest _you_ don't threaten me, weasel...or I'll have you and your whole family fed to the dogs…which wouldn't be much of a loss to the wizarding world considering you and your family's…_meager _standards of living. I mean I've seen poor, wretched street beggars with more money in their pockets."

Ginny's entire face went scarlet and she was about to curse Malfoy until Neville stepped in front of her.

"You watch your mouth, Malfoy!"

"Oh? And what do you think _you _are going to do about it Longbottom? Sic one of your plants on me?"

Crabbe and Goyle both laughed menacingly.

Neville clenched his fists tighter and narrowed his eyes on Malfoy.

"So you think that just because you and your filthy, illegitimate family happen to have a lot of _blood_ money that you can just belittle anyone else who doesn't happen to live up to a ridiculous regime of organized crime, being a follower of Voldemort and god knows how many other illegal activities you and your malicious, conniving, good for nothing family is involved in?"

Ginny gasped and was unable to contain her disbelief to what Neville had just said. She grabbed him by the arm and yanked him back just as Malfoy- who stood for about half a minute just staring at Neville with his mouth open in shock- finally drew his wand.

Suddenly Malfoy's shocked face quickly contorted with rage and he pointed his wand at Neville.

Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles and began closing in on Neville and Ginny.

Neville hastily reached into his back pocket and drew his wand.

"STUPEFY!" he bellowed.

Crabbe and Goyle flew back into the wall.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Ginny yelled while Malfoy was caught off guard by Neville's attack on Crabbe and Goyle.

Malfoy's wand flew effortlessly out of his hand and into Ginny's.

For a moment a flicker of bewilderment flashed in Malfoy's slanted eyes before being replaced with fury.

Malfoy did nothing but stand with his fists clenched tightly at his sides. His cold, grey eyes were now reduced to mere slits and were narrowed on Neville, his jaw was set and his nostrils were flaring.

"Am I supposed to be_ scared_?" he hissed venomously. "Of the littlest weasel and the witless wonder...are you both just going to stand here and hold me at wand point until your savior Potter comes to set me straight?"

"It's funny how you are still managing to run your mouth Malfoy considering you're the one empty-handed right now…" snapped Ginny.

"That doesn't matter," Malfoy murmured, with a nasty grin spreading over his face. "You are both still nothing more than Potter's little shadows…a dirt poor weasel and a hopeless Squib."

"Take that back, Malfoy…" Neville warned.

"You know…" began Malfoy slowly, making sure to carefully draw out every word. "It's a shame your dribbling, brainless, incompetent mummy and daddy are insane and couldn't be here to witness such an admirable yet futile attempt at bravery from their big, idiot squib son. You call yourself a Gryffindor? You are a waste of life and a waste of my time…"

With that Malfoy turned and began walking down the corridor in the opposite direction.

Neville had never felt so much rage in his entire life. He dropped his wand arm, which had been pointed directly at Malfoy the entire time and let it hang limply at his side.

The next thing Neville knew he threw his wand down and took off running after Malfoy.

"NO! NEVILLE DON'T! IT'S NOT WORTH IT!" Ginny screamed.

Neville threw himself at Malfoy and tackled him from behind. Malfoy didn't even know what hit him.

They both plummeted hard to the floor.

"WHAT THE-" shouted Malfoy.

Neville turned Malfoy onto his back, lifted him up by the robes and punched him in the face.

Malfoy grabbed on to Neville's robes desperately trying to throw him off.

"DON'T YOU EVER…TALK ABOUT MY PARENTS! Y-YOU FILTHY, GOOD FOR NOTHING-"

Neville could hear the hurried steps of Ginny running towards them and he quickly turned around to face her.

"GINNY STAY BACK!" he screamed.

Ginny stopped dead in her tracks once she was a few feet away from them.

"Neville don't! Malfoy is _NOT_ worth getting expelled over-"

But it was too late. Neville had already gone in for the third punch.

Both boys were struggling and grunting and wrestling with each other on the floor.

Malfoy finally managed to untangle one of his legs and knee Neville in the stomach.

"OOMPH!" Neville cried out, clutching his stomach.

Malfoy quickly clambered out from underneath Neville and grabbed him by the back of his robes and threw him down.

By this time, Crabbe and Goyle had begun stirring.

"YOU S-STUPID…SQUIB…HOW…DARE…YOU…CHALLENGE…ME!" Malfoy shouted as he landed a punch on Neville's right eye.

Ginny turned around just as Crabbe and Goyle were advancing towards them.

"NEVILLE! WATCH OUT!" she shouted but Crabbe grabbed her and held her back while Goyle moved towards Neville and Malfoy.

Neville had Malfoy pinned until Goyle forcefully grabbed Neville by his robes and yanked him off of Malfoy.

Goyle held Neville in a headlock and waited for further instructions from Malfoy.

Malfoy stood up and dusted himself off. His left eye was already beginning to swell shut and he had blood splurging out of his nose and mouth.

Neville would be sporting quite the shiner on his right eye but at the moment, other than a couple of gashes on his cheeks from where Malfoy's rings caught his skin, he was much better off than Malfoy was.

"IMMOBULUS!"

Suddenly everyone froze_ literally_.

Professor Snape appeared out of nowhere and advanced on them.

"_What_ pray tell is going on here?" he drawled, looking from Neville, who was being held in a headlock by Goyle to Ginny, who was being held by Crabbe to Malfoy, who was standing in front of them all with his wand drawn.

"Ennervate…" Snape hissed. "Goyle release Longbottom and Crabbe release Weasley."

"Professor it's not what it looks like," sputtered Malfoy. "Longbottom attacked me! He's mad! Ought to be locked up in St. Mungo's with his kooky parents!"

Neville let out a low growl and began shouting unintelligible obscenities as he launched himself at Malfoy yet again, not even caring that Snape was now present to witness.

The force of Neville knocked Malfoy to the ground where his head and the floor connected with a loud and sickening crack.

Malfoy moaned and Neville landed another blow to his face which with just Neville's luck happened to be the blow that would knock Malfoy unconscious.

"MR. LONGBOTTOM!" roared Snape grabbing Neville by the back of his robes and yanking him up.

"CRABBE TAKE MALFOY TO THE HOSPITAL WING IMMEDIATELY! GOYLE HEAD BACK TO THE SLYTHERIN COMMON ROOM UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE AND MS. WEASLEY YOU WILL REPORT TO THE HEADMASTER! DO NOT LEAVE UNTIL I HAVE HAD A CHANCE TO SPEAK TO HIM!"

Snape had a hold of Neville by the back of his robes and was dragging him, along with Ginny who he had clutched tightly by the shoulder down the corridor.

Once they reached the corridor that led to Dumbledore's office Snape released Ginny and waited until she disappeared inside and then continued to drag a struggling Neville down the corridor.

By now students had gathered around the corridor to see what all the commotion was about. Neville was so humiliated, he finally stopped struggling and kept his eyes firmly planted on the ground and tried to ignore the loud whispers of the other students.

When he did happen to look up however, he saw Harry, Hermione, Dean and Seamus all huddled together with their mouths hanging open.

Neville couldn't even _imagine_ what everyone must be thinking. Considering the sight of Professor Snape dragging a violently charged Neville Longbottom down the corridor followed closely with Crabbe carrying a bloody and unconscious Malfoy was almost unimaginable. It must have been quite a kick in the teeth to everyone.

When they finally reached his office Snape threw Neville down into a chair and stood looming over him.

"WHAT," he began "WAS THAT? WHY DID YOU ATTACK MR. MALFOY?"

"He was asking for it," Neville replied through clenched teeth.

The old Neville Longbottom would have been absolutely terrified. He would have been at the point of collapse.

But this Neville Longbottom didn't even care that Snape was currently leaning over him and preventing escape by digging both hands down into his shoulders; or even that his pale face was twisted up with a hellish sort of rage and his beady black eyes were leering at him with a murderous glare.

"Don't you have better things to be doing? Like standing guard at the Ministry?" Neville asked quite rudely.

Snape's murderous glare briefly went blank before quickly reverting back.

"HOW DARE YOU! THAT IS NONE OF YOUR CONCERN!"

Neville closed his eyes and waited for the yelling to continue but it didn't. Instead Snape loosened his grip on Neville and stepped back.

"Two hundred and fifty points from Gryffindor and you will be serving a month's worth of detention with me every night_ immediately_ after our sessions. Now you will head over to the Headmaster's office and wait with Ms. Weasley until I arrive to speak with him myself."

Neville got up and stormed off to Dumbledore's office where he sat down next to Ginny.

"Oh gosh, Neville what did he do to you?" she whispered.

"I lost Gryffindor two hundred and fifty points…"

"What?!" Ginny shrieked. "That is COMPLETELY unfair! Malfoy instigated everything! He provoked you! I bet that he and Crabbe and Goyle won't even get punished!"

"I also got a month's worth of detention…"

"Oh Neville, this is just not right! Dumbledore will straighten this all out. I'll tell him what I saw and I'm sure he'll lessen your punishment."

"Doubt it…" replied Neville glumly. "No matter what I threw the first punch. I could have just let him go but I didn't…"

"But Neville after what Malfoy said I don't think _anyone_ would have just let him go…he deserved it."

"I-I don't know what came over me…I just…"

"Neville," Ginny began, placing a reassuring hand on top of his. "It's alright…what you did you shouldn't feel bad. Malfoy will be okay; he just got the daylights knocked out of him. I'm sure he'll be back to his old self by tomorrow."

"I'm sorry you had to see that Ginny…" he mumbled.

"Neville I grew up with_ six_ brothers," she replied grinning. "I've seen just about everything."

Neville sighed and bent down to tie his shoe.

"Thank you for standing up for me when Malfoy began running his mouth about my family. I really appreciate it."

Neville blushed.

"It's no problem Ginny…"

"You know Neville, no matter what anyone says you _are_ a true Gryffindor. Don't ever let anyone tell you different."

"Thanks Ginny…you don't know how much that means to me."

Ginny winked at him and squeezed his hand.

Suddenly Dumbledore's door opened and he appeared looking rather tired, although his blue eyes were still twinkling.

"Ah Mr. Longbottom, Ms. Weasley I have been expecting you both."

Neville and Ginny both stood up and were about to follow him inside until he held his hand up.

"Wait just another moment if you will for Professor Snape to arrive and then you may enter."

And with that Professor Dumbledore disappeared back into his office and shut the door.

Neville and Ginny exchanged nervous glances but remained standing.

About a minute later as Dumbledore predicted Snape entered the room and walked directly into Dumbledore's office without so much as a look at either of them.

NowNeville was beginning to get nervous. It wasn't so much what Snape was going to say about the whole ordeal but about how Dumbledore would see him after this. Neville didn't want the Headmaster to look down on him for his uncharacteristic outburst.

Also, he was more terrified at the aspect of Dumbledore writing home to his gran about what he had done. If his gran ever learned of this Neville would _never_ hear the end of it.

He sighed and began to walk forward until he felt Ginny grab his hand again. He stopped and looked down to make sure he wasn't imagining it, he wasn't.

Ginny gently nudged him forward into Dumbledore's office where they seated themselves in front of his desk, still grasping each other's hands.

Dumbledore was seated with his hands clasped together in front of him. His half-moon spectacles were sitting half way down his nose and his twinkling blue eyes observed the two students in front of him kindly.

Snape was standing beside Dumbledore frowning and leering at them with his beady dark eyes. His arms were crossed in front of his chest.

"Severus, you may begin."

"Yes, Headmaster. I was walking down the corridor to find Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle, Mr. Longbottom and Ms. Weasley engaging in a rather heated quarrel and then I witnessed Mr. Longbottom lunge towards Mr. Malfoy and attack him, which rendered him unconscious."

"Neville," began Dumbledore calmly. "Is this true?"

Neville felt his cheeks flush.

"Yes, professor."

"I see…" replied Dumbledore. "And why did you feel the need to attack Mr. Malfoy?"

"Well, he was verbally attacking both of our families-"

"Its true professor Dumbledore," Ginny quickly cut in. "Malfoy instigated the whole thing by running his stupid mouth! You should have heard the horrible things he was saying!"

"Albus, I do not suggest you go simply by what these two are saying and that we wait until we get the testimonies of Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle and Mr. Malfoy as soon as he is out of the hospital wing."

"Yeah, so they can lie about it…" muttered Ginny.

"I think that is a fine idea Severus. For now though I would like to speak to the children privately."

"Yes, Headmaster."

When Snape left Ginny wasted no time explaining everything.

"Professor I saw the whole thing and yes Neville may have thrown the first punch which we won't lie about but Malfoy provoked him! He was saying all of these _ugly_ things about Neville and his parents…he just wouldn't stop!"

Dumbledore sat for a moment, watching both Neville and Ginny closely before finally speaking.

"I believe you Ginevra. I also know that Neville would never deliberately attempt to harm anyone without good reason."

"I'm sorry, none of this should have happened professor. I should have just walked away…" began Neville, his head hung down in shame.

A tiny glint of amusement flashed in the Headmaster's eyes as he observed the young man before him.

"I believe that Professor Snape deducted two hundred and fifty points from Gryffindor, correct?"

"Yes, sir…" Neville replied.

"Well, I am rewarding two hundred points to Gryffindor. One hundred to each of you for your full cooperation and honesty."

"T-thank you, professor!" replied Neville completely stunned.

"You are quite welcome, Neville. Now, I believe Professor Snape has also given you a month's worth of detention?"

"Yes…"

"I will be sure to inform Professor Snape that detention will be unnecessary due to all of the other proceedings you currently have going on."

Neville's face lit up and he felt a huge weight lift off of his shoulders.

"Thank you professor!"

"That is all for now. You are both dismissed."

Neville and Ginny waited until the door was shut when Ginny shrieked with joy.

"Oh Neville! This is great! See I told you Dumbledore would come through for us!"

She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him down into a rather suffocating hug.

"Pity Snape couldn't have been in there when Dumbledore let us off…could you just imagine the look on his face?" asked Ginny through giggles. "I imagine he'd keel right over!"

Suddenly Ginny was called over by Dean.

"Hey, I'll talk to you later okay?"

"Alright, later Ginny."

Neville watched as Ginny ran over to Dean, who along with a whole flock of Gryffindors had been watching them intriguingly.

------

It was now almost dinner time and Neville decided to check and see if he had received any mail. He was long past due for a letter from his gran.

"Oy Neville where ya headed off to?"

Neville turned around to see Ron rushing up to him with Harry and Hermione trailing farther behind talking quietly amongst themselves.

"Oh, I was just going to go and see if I've gotten any mail…"

"_Whoa_, looks like Malfoy got you pretty good, eh?" replied Ron bringing his face closer to Neville's so he could get a better look at him.

"Uh yeah guess he did."

Ron raised his eyebrows and then wrinkled his nose.

"Harry says Malfoy's much worse off though! Apparently he's still in the hospital wing! So why'd you attack him? Bloody hell I wish I could have been there to see it!"

"Uh I uh…Ginny was there ask her," Neville mumbled.

"Already tried," began Ron. "She isn't budging…won't tell anyone about what happened. Anyways, we'll come with you to the owlry," he began, looking back at Harry and Hermione. "I don't know about those two but it's been ages since I've checked my mail."

"Alright then," replied Neville, who was just happy that Ron had dropped the subject of his rather violent altercation with Malfoy.

Neville waited quietly with Ron for Harry and Hermione to catch up to them.

Ron was listing the ways that Lavender was still managing to drive him up the wall even though they were no longer dating but Neville wasn't really listening. He just gave a few small smiles and nods here and there.

In the very pit of his stomach he had a really bad feeling. He didn't know why or what it could be but he just had a bad feeling about_ something_.

Finally Harry and Hermione caught up and the four of them began walking towards the owl barn.

"Oh, Neville! Did Malfoy do that to you?!"

Hermione suddenly ran forward squeezing in between Ron and Neville. She linked her arm through Neville's and pulled him up ahead of Harry and Ron, badgering him to tell her what all had happened.

Ron felt a pang of hurt and his cheeks went red. He nudged Harry in the side and mouthed _"D'you see that?"_ to which Harry just rolled his eyes and pulled his friend along.

When they finally reached the owlry they all went off to check their owls.

"Well, I didn't get anything," replied Ron rather glumly.

"Me either," echoed Harry.

"Oh! I did! The latest issue of 'Witchteen,'" replied Hermione, failing miserably to hide her excitement.

Ron looked stunned.

"Hermione, I didn't know you read that crap."

"It's not _all_ crap Ron…" began Hermione blushing. "At least not_ this_ magazine…some of the articles are rather informative and written with a certain sophistication that you wouldn't be able to find in any other magazine say like with _Lavender's_ 'Teen Witch Weekly' magazines…besides a lot of the articles are of good use in certain areas of a young witch's life."

At this Ron's eyebrows rose and were in danger of disappearing amidst his hair.

Hermione's blush deepened and she cleared her throat.

"Ginny takes more of an interest in it than I do. She reads it first and then I just skim through it a bit…"

While the trio talked amongst themselves Neville had already opened his mail. He had received a mysterious and anonymously marked letter and it read as follows:

_Neville,_

_I am afraid I have the unfortunate task of being the bearer of bad news in informing you that your Uncle Algie, Aunt Enid and Grandmother have been attacked. I am afraid that I can not tell you much more than that except that they are safely recuperating in a secure residence. I am afraid I can not reveal their whereabouts or even my identity to you as it is much too dangerous at this time. I can however assure you that they are all being very well taken care of and are at ease. Now, I have something I need to ask of you. For your own protection I need for you to try and keep a low profile. You may continue attending your classes as scheduled but just be sure to go directly to and from class, make sure you aren't wondering around the school grounds alone and keep your eyes and ears open until further notice. I am also afraid that with this I must ask you not to take anymore trips to Hogsmeade or outside of school grounds until further notice. I am sorry for the inconvenience but I assure you this is for not only your own well being but for that of your family and those around you as well. I will be writing again soon and am in the process of arranging a time and place where we can meet face to face and I can tell you more. Please, do not speak of this to anyone else and I urge you to be careful. You do not need to reply. Again, I urge you to be extra cautious and to take everything you have been told with the highest concern. And always remember, constant vigilance._

_X_

Neville felt his heart drop into his stomach as he read the letter a second time. So many unanswered questions surged through his mind. Suddenly he began to feel ill. He wobbled over to the owlery window and sat down.

"Neville? What's wrong? You've gone white…and you're shaking."

Hermione rushed over to Neville and sat down next to him.

"I-I'm fine…close call…Great-Uncle Algie…everything's fine," he mumbled incoherently.

"What happened?" she replied eyeing the letter that he held tightly in his white knuckled hand.

"Oh, really i-it's nothing. Gran just had a scare with my Great-Uncle Algie. Everything is fine…I'm just a bit shook up is all."

"Whoa Neville, maybe you should go see Madame Pomfrey. You look as though you've just been visited by about a thousand dementors," replied Ron.

He must have really looked shaken up because when Ron of all people notices that something is amiss then that's saying something.

Neville forced a tiny smile.

"I'm fine. I was just caught off guard with this…" he pressed gently, holding up the letter for them to see. "Really though, everything is fine."

"Alright then if you say so. C'mon, it's about time for dinner and I'm starved!" replied Ron, tugging Harry towards the exit.

Hermione stood up and pressed both palms against her skirt, flattening out the wrinkles.

"C'mon Neville," she began. "You need to eat something…maybe you will feel better."

"Oh, I couldn't possible eat at a time like this. I just need to write my gran back…"

Hermione turned to Harry and Ron and motioned for them to go on ahead and then turned back to Neville, narrowing her eyes on him.

"Neville look, I know you must be worried about whatever is in that letter but you can't let it consume you, you need to focus on your studies_ and_ your health…and that means _eating_."

"I know…" he mumbled in defeat.

"Don't think I haven't noticed," she continued, her face set in stone and her voice low. "You haven't eaten in_ two days_ and I'm worried about you. What's going on?"

"Alright look…just let me write my gran and then I'll come for dinner okay?"

Hermione stared at him hard.

"No…" she began firmly. "You can come to dinner with me now and then write to your gran and if you don't then I'll take you to the hospital wing myself where Madame Pomfrey will make you eat."

Neville sighed and began folding and unfolding the letter before finally placing it back in the envelope.

"Fine…" he replied finally. He stood up and tucked the envelope into his inner robe pocket and followed Hermione to the Great Hall.

Once they got there everyone else had already begun eating.

Neville and Hermione took their seats across from Harry and Ron.

"'Bout time you two got here…" replied Ron after a swig of pumpkin juice.

This was cause for a few wandering Gryffindor eyes to drift towards Neville and Hermione curiously, which caused Neville to blush.

"_So_ Neville about your tussle with Malfoy earlier…" began Seamus.

Suddenly Ginny, who had been sitting a few seats away from Ron, lowered her fork and turned to Neville, slowly chewing and swallowing her food as she watched curiously and waited for Neville to speak.

Neville felt his face grow warmer but he pretended that he didn't hear Seamus and continued to load his plate full of food.

"Neville?" Seamus asked again.

"Is Malfoy still in the hospital wing?" asked Dean to no one in particular. "He's not over at the Slytherin table."

Neville took a bite of porridge and quickly glanced up to see that all eyes were on him, waiting for him to enlighten them on what really happened with Malfoy.

And then began the rumors.

"I heard that you clobbered him with your bare hands and broke his jaw!" exclaimed Seamus.

Neville rolled his eyes and continued to wolf down his dinner without a word.

"Well come off it mate! You can't just leave us hanging! Tell us what_ really_ happened!" Ron egged through a mouthful of food.

Neville turned helplessly to Ginny who was watching him intently.

Only the two of them knew what truly happened and Neville intended it to stay that way.

"How much trouble did you get into?"

"What did Crabbe and Goyle do?"

The questions just kept on coming and Neville didn't really feel like answering any of them. He had enough going on as is already.

The second Neville cleaned his plate he jumped out of his seat.

"Well, I'm off to write my gran now."

Neville quickly hurried out of the Great Hall and made his way to the dorm.

He entered the washroom, locked the door and cast the silencing spell.

He kneeled down in front of the toilet and allowed his dinner to freely come up out of him. He purged and purged until there was nothing left.

Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. He leaned back against the wall to rest. His head was throbbing and his eyes were watering over and he could feel the fabric of his uniform sticking to his back, which was rather unpleasant as always.

His throat was once again on fire but it was all worth it in the end. A few moments of discomfort was totally worth the overall high he got after purging.

Today had been a very hectic day and only now was he_ finally_ beginning to feel a little better and he felt momentarily assured that maybe just maybe things _could_ get better.

His thoughts soon turned to his family. He wondered where they could possibly be, what they could possibly be doing and how long they would have to hide. Even though the mysterious author of the letter assured him that his family was safe and sound he wasn't sure he'd be able to believe it until he saw for himself.

Neville wondered when exactly things in his life had begun to get so out of control. It wasn't as if Neville had ever lived a fairy tale life or anything but things weren't always _this_ bad for him.

He remembered when he used to run around on the front lawn as a little boy and his granddad would chase him and then hoist him up into the air after he caught him and together they would fly without a care or worry in the world.

But even during the happier times Neville's life had always been plagued with tragedy.

He was orphaned by age one after his parents were tortured into insanity by Bellatrix LeStrange and he was sent to be raised by his aristocratic, heavy-handed and sometimes harsh grandmother, Augusta. And most of her time was spent obsessing over keeping the spirit of her fallen son alive in Neville by forcing his old possessions on the boy in high hopes that maybe it would bring out qualities in him that his father once had.

His grandfather Archibald had been a raging alcoholic who was once immensely respected and spoken very highly of. He was once described as a friendly man with an open face that anyone could approach but when his son Frank and daughter-in-law Alice were tortured all emotion just shut off and he became cold and cruel and closed himself off from the rest of the world.

Archibald most of the time would take his frustrations out on Augusta and Neville both verbally and sometimes even physically. This endless cycle of drinking and abuse continued on until the old man ended up taking his own life, which a seven year old Neville happened to unfortunately witness.

Then there was the fact that Neville was thought to have been a squib up until the age of eight, which is when it was discovered by his Great-Uncle Algie that he had magic in him after all. Algie had been holding Neville upside down out of the second story window at the Longbottom residence when he accidentally dropped him and as it would turn out Neville ended up bouncing all the way down the lawn to land safely in the flower bed.

And all was well for awhile after that until Neville realized that the fact that he wasn't a squib would mean that his Gran, Great-Uncle Algie and Great-Aunt Enid would put even more pressure on him to be as good of a wizard as his father once was and also to live up to the family name.

Sometimes he found himself almost wishing that he were nothing more than just a squib as it would have been considerably easier to deal with the dissatisfaction of him not having any magic than him failing as a wizard and bringing shame upon the Longbottom name; because if he were a squib then that would be failure he was bringing to the family that was beyond his control whereas any failure he would possibly bring to the family as a wizard, well that would be something that he was capable of controlling.

After he had been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry his gran pushed him even harder to be just like his father. During his first couple of years at Hogwarts he hated it so much he didn't think he would be able to stand it. He wasn't making very good grades; he didn't have any true friends- just housemates who tolerated him for the time being but later would talk badly and mock him behind his back. He was constantly the butt of jokes and curses of the Slytherins, especially Malfoy and on top of that he was endlessly harassed by Professor Snape in the classroom.

Neville took a deep breath as his life seemingly flashed before his eyes. No wonder he couldn't come up with a legitimate patronus! Almost every memory he had growing up was far from happy and even the happy ones weren't enough to conjure up a strong, reliable patronus.

He leaned over the toilet again and heaved. He wanted to purge everything out of his system until there was nothing left. Until he was just empty.

'_This is pitiful. All of your fellow Gryffindors are probably all gathered down in the common room playing a game of exploding snap, spending time with each other, laughing, playing and having fun! While you are in here with your head in the toilet…just wasting your pathetic little life…one flush at a time! Down down down it goes …'_

It didn't matter what the voice said now what's done is done.

Neville stood up and stuck his head under the sink. He washed his face, brushed his teeth and finally gathered up the courage to look in the mirror.

His glasses were slightly askew and his eyes bloodshot. His face was blotchy and red and slightly puffy.

He grabbed a towel and began patting his hair and face dry and when he finally opened the door he was quite surprised and slightly startled to find Harry standing on the other side with his ear pressed up against it.

Harry stepped back and immediately started to explain.

"Oh I uh just- the door was locked and I saw that the light was on but I couldn't hear anything so I was getting kind of worried…"

"Sorry 'bout that mate I was just freshening up a little bit. It's all yours."

Neville walked past Harry and sat down on his bed.

Instead of entering the washroom as Neville expected, the raven haired boy walked over to Neville's bed and looked down at him with concern.

"Listen, Neville is everything okay? Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"No not really…why?"

"No reason…it's just- I don't know I just get the feeling that something is wrong."

"Well," Neville began softly. "I can assure you that nothing is wrong…at least nothing that hasn't been wrong before," he finished jokingly.

"I know Hermione is really worried about you."

"Why should she be worried?" Neville questioned.

"She doesn't think you are taking care of yourself."

When Neville didn't answer Harry continued.

"She thinks you are too stressed, not sleeping enough, spreading yourself too thin…"

"Like she's one to talk about spreading oneself too thin…" muttered Neville.

"Neville I'm going to ask you something and I just want a simple yes or no answer without you getting defensive or upset okay?"

"Uh…sure go ahead," Neville uttered, as his stomach sank. He had a horrible feeling he knew where this conversation was going.

"Okay well…are you- have you been, you know…making yourself sick…on purpose? Like after meals and stuff?"

Neville's heart stopped. He felt the blood drain from his face.

"Because I was in the prefect's bathroom having a bath earlier today and Moaning Myrtle was asking about you and why you haven't been to visit her lately and she mentioned that you used to go in there all the time to uh, throw up."

Neville held his breath until Harry stopped talking.

'_Good luck getting out of this one squib!'_

"Oh c'mon Harry, this is Moaning Myrtle!" began Neville, making sure to keep his voice calm and steady. "She's always been a bit dotty wouldn't you say? She's always making up stupid lies about people…she does it because she's so bored and lonely. She just wants attention. You honestly aren't going to believe anything _she_ says are you?"

"So what she said…it's not true then?" questioned Harry.

"No of course it's not! I don't know why she would…say something like that."

"Okay then," replied Harry backing away slowly. "I'll leave you alone now. See you later."

Neville held his breath again until Harry was gone.

Whether or not Harry believed him was still up in the air but at least now Neville could breathe.

------

**Author's Note: **So it's been awhile since I updated and I was bored enough to do so! So there's a lot going on with poor Neville right? Chapter 16 to follow! Give me all of your feedback, comments and/or thoughts or questions! :) As always thanks for reading!


	16. Disorientation

**Chapter 16: **Disorientation

Two weeks had gone by since Neville received the mysterious letter and he had been so busy with classes, his training sessions, and quidditch practice among other things that he was beginning to suffer from debilitating anxiety attacks due to all of the stress. He was just barely keeping on top of everything.

Part of this was also due largely to the fact that Hermione had been keeping an even closer eye on him since Harry's questioning of what Myrtle had revealed. Neville was under the suspicion that Hermione had his gryffindor housemates on high alert, almost serving as spies because he noticed that one of them would mysteriously end up lounging around in the dorm after Neville exited the washroom. It was beginning to create more annoyance and anxiety for Neville so he was forced to become even more secretive and go out of his way to visit different washrooms all over the castle.

Although amongst all the chaos he had a few small victories that he could quietly celebrate. For one, he had been growing more confident in his dueling skills as he'd become the reigning champion after winning every other duel since the first challenge they'd had in defence against the darks arts.

Also he had managed to keep his eating under control and to the very minimum for the most part and was continually visiting the fitness center. He had managed to lose another five pounds, which now put him at one hundred and fifty pounds. He still wasn't satisfied but slowly and surely enough he was making progress.

Lastly he and Ginny had continued to grow even closer ever since the incident with Malfoy and they had spent almost everyday together since then. The amount of time they were actually together varied but it was growing steadily with each day.

Ginny had been coming to watch him work in the greenhouse and they'd been visiting in the astronomy tower into all hours of the night while everyone else slept.

He loved spending as much time with Ginny as he could but along with that came the worrying questions of _'When is she going to grow tired of you?'_ or _'Has she already grown tired of you?'_ And of course there was also the painful reminder that this was as close to Ginny as he would ever be able to get without actually dating her, but he reminded himself that this was better than nothing. In fact, it was probably better than he could have ever hoped for.

However their constant time spent together had many eyebrows raised and people were beginning to whisper. Dean, for one was quite unhappy with this but refrained from speaking out due to the fact that he and Ginny had been fighting non-stop and Lavender had also been rather unhappy with their growing closeness.

Lavender had cornered Neville one day last week after her fervently; desperate attempts to get his attention had gone unnoticed and she asked him point blank if he liked her. Luckily for him though they had been interrupted by Hermione who quickly led Neville away before he could answer, which of course left Lavender near tears.

Neville was now on his way to meet Ginny at the greenhouse. It was the middle of the afternoon and lunch had just finished. He had managed to skip it without question but his stomach felt differently as it growled and rumbled in protest.

Once he entered the greenhouse he sat down and waited for Ginny to arrive.

The guilt of what they were doing, although they weren't really _doing _anything, continued to build inside of Neville with each moment they spent together or with each sentence or shared laugh they exchanged.

It was all completely innocent but he couldn't help but feel guilty. After all, Ginny was dating Dean and yet most of her time was recently being spent with him. Although he had to figure that it's not like he was_ forcing_ her to hang around him.

Maybe the guilt was because he knew that while their intentions were innocent that his feelings for her grew deeper and he longed to act upon them, even though he would never dare. The fact of the matter is is that Dean is his housemate, teammate and also what he'd consider a friend and he shouldn't have feelings for any of his mate's girlfriends!

"Hello Neville."

Ginny smiled sweetly at him as she entered.

Neville's breath caught in his throat.

This was the first he had seen of her all day and although they'd been together almost everyday her beauty still never ceased to astonish him or to make his heart flutter.

She pulled out a stool and sat next to him.

"Why weren't you at breakfast or lunch?"

"Oh I've been a bit preoccupied in here," he lied.

"So Professor Longbottom," she teased. "What will we be doing today?"

Her soft brown eyes were twinkling up at him.

He quickly looked away and wrung his hands out nervously.

"Erm, well…"

She reached back and pulled out her pony tail and as she did her luminous, red hair toppled down and the magnificent layers landed perfectly in place.

Neville realized he had been staring and blushed.

Her pale skin was flawless and bright, her freckles countless. She managed to light up and bring warmth to the entire darkened and dank greenhouse with her presence. Even the plants seemed to flourish when she was around.

Neville bit his lip and turned away from her.

"Neville, is something wrong?"

"Oh, no…"

"Well you're acting weird."

"How so?"

"I don't know…"

"So Ginny how are you?"

"Good…other than you know…what happened with Dean last night."

"Right…" began Neville glumly. "Look, I know it's none of my business but I don't like the way he talks to you."

"I know. It's completely belittling to me but I should know a thing or two about that with six brothers."

"That doesn't matter. No bloke should talk to a girl that way. There's no excuse."

Ginny grinned.

"It's a shame all boys can't be raised like true gentlemen as you have."

Neville gave a tiny smile.

"I think he's angry with me…" he began.

"Who? Dean?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Well…because of all the time I've been costing you lately."

"Oh stop. I will spend my time with whoever I please and he's just going to have to deal with it. It's none of his business who I'm with."

"I suppose you're right."

"Of course I'm right," replied Ginny smugly. "You ought to know by now that I'm _always_ right."

"You might have to keep reminding me of that," teased Neville. "You know how awful my memory is."

"What about you Neville? I know you've had a lot going on lately but are you dealing with everything okay?"

Neville held his breath and contemplated before answering.

As they had been spending more time together he had opened up to her more about a few of the things that have been troubling him. He hadn't gotten too deep into it but he trusted her enough and she had told him that she wanted to be of good use to him as he'd been to her.

"Well I suppose…" he said finally.

"Is Snape still giving you a hard time during your sessions?"

"Yeah I don't think he'll ever stop torturing me," he replied softly.

Neville used the momentary silence to reach under the counter for two empty flower pots. He filled each of them with soil and pushed one over to Ginny. He then grabbed a bag of seeds and dumped out a small pile between them.

They silently began to plant the tiny seeds deep within the soil.

"Make sure to get them all in there and try and separate them as much as you can," instructed Neville.

"What breed is this?" she asked.

"_Speckled Tinumbulus_," he answered.

"Hmm. Sounds interesting," she replied eagerly.

"It's a very rare breed and they're mainly for show. See these seeds may look tiny but their overall purpose is quite large. The plant gets pretty big and I've yet had one that's grown to its full potential so maybe these two will be the first."

Ginny smiled.

"Lets hope so."

"That'd be nice…" he began. "I'd love to actually be able to enter them into the next exotic plant competition."

"Can you believe our first quidditch game is in two days?"

Neville looked up from his plant.

He had completely forgotten.

"Really?"

Ginny playfully shoved him.

"Yes really! Where have you been?"

"Just slipped my mind," he answered.

"Well you better put it back into your mind because we're going to need you."

"Seems like it was only yesterday I found out I'd made the team…and now we're already having our first game."

"I know. Time flies," agreed Ginny.

------

The rest of the day flew by fairly quickly and Neville decided he and his uncle were long overdue for a visit.

Other than their daily morning sessions they hadn't spoken for almost a week.

Neville knocked on the door.

Usually his uncle shouted for him to come on in but not this time.

Neville knocked again and was about to leave until he thought he heard voices coming from inside.

He leaned towards the door to see if he could figure out who his uncle was talking to.

Without success he finally decided to just enter.

Neville opened the door to see Francis deeply in conversation with Snape.

SNAPE! Of all people!

They both immediately stopped talking once Neville walked in and Snape turned to him and glared as he usually did.

"Why hello Neville what a pleasant surprise."

"S-sorry I can see I'm interrupting something…I'll leave," mumbled Neville.

"Oh that won't be necessary. If you could just wait a few minutes outside the door until we are finished I'll be happy to speak with you."

"Alright."

Neville closed the door behind him and wondered what in the world they could be discussing. Could it be him?

It wasn't like Neville to be so self-absorbed. He of all people knew the world didn't revolve around him but he couldn't help but be gripped with the suspicion that they were talking about him or at least something involving him.

However they could be discussing anything but it's not as if they were old friends or anything.

Or maybe they were?

After all his father had been a slytherin around if not in the same year as Snape and he and Francis could have easily shared cordial friends with one another.

Suddenly the door opened and before Neville could snap out of his thoughts Snape was already completely out of his sight.

"Sorry if that was bad timing…" replied Neville closing the door behind him.

"Of course not! I'm always happy to see you Neville."

Neville cleared his throat and sat down.

Maybe it was just his imagination but his uncle's hair looked as if it had gotten grayer almost overnight and the lines in his tired face more noticeable.

"I was just thinking about how it's been awhile since we've had a decent chat," began Francis.

"Yeah sorry…I've just been so busy."

"No worries boy. How are things?"

"Good…"

Francis raised an eyebrow. He didn't believe him.

"Well for the most part…" finished Neville.

"What's the matter?"

"Well nothing in particular but it's just…I feel…"

Francis pushed his empty dinner plate aside.

"Excuse me for a moment…I have to-"

Francis ducked his head under his desk.

It appeared as if he was looking for something.

"Ah, okay sorry about that. I dropped something."

Without saying Neville knew what it was he had dropped.

A ring.

Francis attempted to subtly slide it back on his finger.

"Alright so you feel…"

Neville wanted to question who the ring was from and why he hadn't seen him wearing it before and if it held any real significant value but figured that would seem too nosy and rude of him.

"I'm just kind of stressed lately and overwhelmed…"

"No surprise there lad you've got a lot on your plate…speaking of plates have you already eaten dinner?"

"No."

"Well why don't you go get something and bring it back here. I'll wait."

"I'm not hungry."

Francis frowned at the boy.

He had heard that before one too many times. It seemed that the boy was never hungry.

Francis sighed.

He wasn't his parental figure so he wasn't going to lecture the boy or insist he eat but the boy's unenthused demeanor towards an appetite was becoming a mounting concern.

Neville sensed the disapproval from his uncle.

"I'm still full from lunch."

'_Big. Fat. Liar!'_

"Uh Francis can I ask you something?"

"Of course you can ask me anything."

"Actually never mind. It's stupid."

"Neville, the only stupid questions are the ones that go unasked."

"What did you _do_?"

Francis' face fell.

Neville didn't have to say anymore than that. Francis knew exactly what the boy was referring to and he was surprised that he hadn't asked sooner.

"I knew you'd ask eventually," he began. "It's complicated…"

"You don't have to tell me," offered Neville.

"No…we're family after all and we shouldn't be keeping anymore secrets from each other."

Francis took a deep breath.

"Well as you know when Frank and I were attending school here we grew apart because he was a slytherin and I a gryffindor but even as a slytherin Frank was still more of a gryffindor than I was. When we graduated Frank took a position with the order and as I already told you I turned down my offer, mainly because I wanted to separate myself from Frank. I was envious of him in many ways and I wanted to emerge from his shadow and live my own life, which of course Frank saw as a betrayal. So little by little we saw less of each other and began to live our own lives. I was a very troubled young man and I made a lot of bad choices and did a lot of stupid things but there was one thing I did that was unforgivable and the most ultimate act of betrayal one could ever possibly think of…" Francis trailed off and watched his nephew closely.

He sighed again and adjusted his glasses.

"I got involved with the wrong group of people and fell farther away from what my true purpose had so far been. I was slowly becoming less like myself and my heart began to grow heavy and my desires dark. I had so much pent up rage towards my father and feelings of jealousy towards your father and I wanted to know what it was like to have power over others who were weaker than myself. I thrived on learning all of the darkest magic that I could and so I secluded myself along with these other people and we plotted many schemes to overturn the order, all for the benefit of our own amusement, nothing more…"

Francis paused and continued.

"So one day I was approached by a man in a black cloak asking if I was Frank Longbottom, apparently unaware that Frank had a twin brother. Anyways I told him who I was and that I was in no way affiliated with your father. He then asked me if there was any truth to Frank and Alice possibly bearing a future fulfillment to the prophecy and I told him I believed they did. He then asked me where they were and by then I knew that they were in trouble so I refused to say anymore but I had already said too much and it was too late…"

"I found out later that night that Frank and Alice were attacked by a group of Death Eaters but luckily they came out okay. Well word traveled fast about my betrayal and considering they easily could have been killed I was shunned by everyone I knew. It was then I realized how far I had really fallen and how I needed to find my way back and fight for the good of the wizarding world and wait and hope for the forgiveness from my family and friends. From then on I dedicated myself to the capture of people who were just like I had been. There is so much evil out there just waiting to happen and I wanted to do my best to stop it in its tracks."

"So after that I became an auror and never looked back. Frank was the only person who came to see me the day I left. I told him I'd see him around and began walking away and as I did he shouted after me, "Don't worry Francis! We'll sort this out!" And that was it. I couldn't even turn around and look my own brother in the eye because I was so ashamed of what I had done and just so desperate to leave. Then of course I found out they had been attacked again and were admitted to St. Mungo's with life threatening injuries so I rushed back to see them but never got to. My father skinned my hide for my betrayal along with the mess I left behind and told me if I ever left again to make sure and never show my face to them again. Well now here we are however many years later and I'm finally ready to make amends."

Neville stared at his uncle in shock.

"I would understand if I've just given you even less reason to trust me…" sighed Francis.

"Oh no, I just…wow that's a lot of burden to carry," answered Neville.

"It certainly is…over twenty years and it's still with me."

"I actually think you're quite brave…" began Neville.

"Really? I actually see myself as the opposite. Nothing more than a coward."

"Well it depends on how you think about it. You betraying my parents and running away was cowardly but you coming back to help _me_ without even knowing me or knowing how I'd react to you that was brave. Also joining the order and facing the people you left behind, admitting and showing remorse for what you did wrong is brave. I think the one person you need forgiveness from more than anyone else right now is yourself. Then maybe it'll be easier for others to forgive you as well, that is if they haven't already."

Francis smiled.

"Such a smart boy."

Neville blushed.

"Not really…I just know what it's like to screw up."

"You've got to stop being so hard on yourself," his uncle scolded.

"I know."

"Well what do you say we lighten the mood a bit?" began Francis. "I've seen you with that Weasley girl a lot lately…Do you fancy her?"

"Oh you mean Ginny."

"Yes, there are so many of those Weasley children that it's hard to keep track of them all…"

"We're just friends. She's dating Dean Thomas…I'm just someone she can talk to."

"I see. Well who knows maybe one day your friendship to her will pay off and it'll blossom into something more."

Neville blushed.

"I don't think so…"

"You've got to stop underestimating yourself. Just you wait…she'll see."

Neville mumbled something unintelligible.

"Besides, girls your age really don't know what they want but once they figure it out it'll stick…well not always but most of the time it will."

"Francis…there's something I need to tell you."

"What is it?"

"I-I really shouldn't but I'm worried…and I have to tell someone."

"Go on…"

"I received a strange letter two weeks ago. It was anonymously written and said that Gran, Great-Uncle Algie and Great-Aunt Enid had been attacked…here I brought it with me."

Neville pulled the letter out of his robe pocket and handed it to his uncle.

Francis quickly read the letter and handed it back to Neville.

"I'm glad you showed me. We're just going to have to trust that whoever wrote that letter is telling the truth. There isn't much more we can do."

"I won't stop worrying until I know they're okay."

"Neville, I'm sure they're fine…"

"But that's not good enough!"

"Calm down."

"No! I've gone for two weeks wondering about my family, not knowing whether they are even alive or not! I have no idea! Sure some stupid letter tells me they're alive and well but that's not enough! I want to see for myself!"

"Neville…I promise we'll get to the bottom of this alright? But I suggest until then you obey what that letter says and keep a low profile, don't leave the premises or wander around the halls alone and don't show anyone else this letter."

Neville sighed and tucked the letter back into his robes.

"I better get going…I don't want to be late for my session with Snape."

"Alright good luck. I'll see you in the morning."

Neville nodded and left.

His head was spinning with everything he'd learned tonight. So Francis had betrayed his parents. Neville was beginning to wonder if he did have less reason to trust him.

If Francis had betrayed his own family once what would stop him from doing it again? If he'd associated with the wrong people in the past how was he to know he wasn't still associating with them?

Neville felt bad for thinking these things but he couldn't help but grow more and more wary and suspicious of his uncle.

Something else that bothered him was the way he'd reacted when Neville mentioned the letter. Francis didn't seem the least bit surprised when Neville had pulled it out nor did he seem concerned with the contents in it.

Neville was beginning to wonder if he was just being paranoid because of all of the stress that he was under. He refused to believe his uncle would want to harm him in any way.

Sure there was still a lot about Francis that he had yet to learn but he trusted him, or at least he was pretty sure he did. Neville was simply keeping his eyes and ears open and being extra cautious as the letter had suggested.

Following a strong internal instinct he decided to check his mail before heading to the dungeon.

When he reached the owl barn he went straight to his mail box and sure enough there was another large envelope identical to the last one he had received.

He quickly opened it and began reading the letter.

_Neville,_

_I hope you are well. I am writing to you because it is safe enough now for us to meet. I will be at Honeydukes on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. I will be wearing ruby red dress robes. You can't miss me. I must ask that you come alone and that you do not tell anyone of your whereabouts. Also with this I must ask you to continue to keep a low profile and not to leave the school's premises until Saturday when I will have allies watching out for you if anything is to happen. If you have any questions or concerns with the arrangement please write back otherwise I will see you on Saturday at 7'O clock sharp._

_P.S. Your family is safe with me._

_X_

He placed the letter back into its envelope and took off running for the dungeon.

------

The second Neville entered the dungeon Harry shot him a warning look but it was too late. Neville stumbled inside only to be startled by Snape's drawling voice.

"Longbottom…you're late. _Again_."

"I know. I'm sorry professor I just wanted to check my mail really quick."

"I am quickly tiring of your poorly executed reasonings boy. I should hope your ears are cleared out because no doubt your head is…"

Neville blushed.

"So that you will be able to hear me when I say that this will be the last time you ever walk into this room late and if you should not learn from this I can assure you that the remainder of our time together will be quite unpleasant do you understand?"

Neville gulped.

Being in Professor Snape's presence for even a minute was unbearable so how could things possibly get anymore unpleasant?

He was pretty sure he didn't want to find out.

"Yes sir."

"Potter you will attempt to penetrate Longbottom's mind."

"But professor we've already done th-"

"DO NOT QUESTION MY AUTHORITY POTTER!"

Harry sank further down into his seat with his mouth hanging open.

"I _do believe_ that I am the one in charge here am I not? Would you like to question the way I am teaching you as well Longbottom?"

Neville shook his head furiously.

"LEGILIMENS!"

Before Neville could recover from his previous shock he was shocked again as Snape unexpectedly turned his wand on him.

'_Close your mind stupid!'_

'_C'mon close your mind! Close your mind!'_

Once again random memories from his life began flashing before him and as the memories grew more recent he had to struggle harder.

He would _never_ give Snape the pleasure of discovering his secrets.

Neville fought to close his mind off and finally everything stopped.

Snape continued to stare him down looking furious.

Then as if a switch were flipped on a single memory emerged from his mind and it had been the most recent one that Snape could successfully tap into.

This was from two weeks ago when he had received the first letter.

Neville watched in horror as everything played out once again. He opened the letter but before he could read its contents Neville blocked the memory before Snape could see.

Neville didn't care that Snape was working for Dumbledore in the order. He did not trust him and he never would for as long as he lived.

Neville closed his eyes.

'_Legilimens!'_

Suddenly memories from Snape's mind began flashing before him and they were coming so fast he didn't pay attention to what they were.

"LONGBOTTOM!"

He just wanted to find when Snape had talked to his uncle just before he had come here.

Neville was _so_ close.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Finally he found what he was looking for.

The memory began to playback what had happened before Neville arrived.

Snape walked into Francis' office.

'_Ah Severus not a moment too soon.'_

'_We need to hurry…the boy is about to come and visit you.'_

'_Okay well here I've brought it with me.'_

Then his uncle pulled out an envelope identical to the one that had been sent to him.

But that was as far into the memory as he got because suddenly everything stopped and he felt himself being yanked out his seat and shaken by Snape.

"HOW DARE YOU ATTEMPT TO OVERRULE MY AUTHORITY! DID I ASK YOU TO USE LEGILIMENCY ON ME?"

"N-n-no professor but you used it on me first!"

"TWO HUNDRED POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR AND TONIGHT'S SESSION IS OVER. GET OUT!"

Harry quickly jumped out of his seat and Neville attempted to follow but Snape still had him tightly in his grasp.

"_Not you_ Longbottom. Sit!"

He threw him back down into his seat and loomed over him.

"I-I'm s-sorry professor…I don't understa-"

"Of course you don't understand boy! You don't let anything of intelligible use sit in that thick skull of yours long enough to benefit from it! Instead it's filled with nothing but air and Merlin knows what such nonsense only _you _would retain!"

Neville's blood had been surging with anger ever since Snape first began yelling and it had just reached its boiling point.

"You know what I'm not here for you to insult me! I didn't choose to be in the situation I'm in nor did I choose for you to be the one instructing me on how to deal with it! So if you're just going to continue wasting both our time by insulting me then I'm not going to continue coming to these stupid sessions of yours!"

Snape's normally slit eyes grew wide.

"_How dare_ you take that tone with me!"

Snape's voice was barely above a whisper now and Neville shut his eyes and waited for the yelling to continue.

It had been completely out of line for him to talk to a professor like he just did even if it _was _Snape. If his gran ever found out about this she'd grab him by the scuff of his neck the next time she saw him and lecture him for hours telling him how he'd brought shame to the family name and how she raised him better.

Neville took a few deep breaths and tried to calm himself down.

He clenched his jaw and mumbled an apology through his teeth.

"I apologize professor. I was completely out of line."

Snape's eyes were now partially slit and he continued to stare at Neville without speaking.

"_You're hiding something_," he finally hissed.

"Excuse me?" replied Neville baffled.

"And it could kill you," he finished, his eyes returning to menacing black slits.

"What about you? Why didn't you want me to see what you were talking to my uncle about earlier? You _both_ know something about the letter that I received!"

"Enough!" barked Snape. "I know of no such thing."

"What are you talking about?! I saw it! I-I!"

"Mr. Longbottom, your skills in legilimency are still quite premature. And even with that being said at _your level_ of knowledge it is quite clear to me that you've extracted a false memory from my mind that was intentionally put there by your own subconscious. In short you took from my mind what you wanted to be there not what was actually there. You manipulated the memory yourself."

"No I did not! NO! I KNOW WHAT I SAW!"

"There is nothing more to discuss here. Don't be late again and I suggest you go directly to the hospital wing so you can have yourself examined."

And with that Snape got up and exited the dungeon leaving Neville alone with his spinning mind.

------

**Author's Note: **Okay so it's been over a month since I last updated. I'm back in college again after 2 whopping years! So it may take a little longer to get the chapters out. I know that there is a LOT going on in this chapter but it's only just beginning really. ;) As always thanks for reading and please leave me all of your lovely reviews! Chapter 17 to follow…(eventually! :x)


	17. Vindication

**Chapter 17: Vindication**

Neville clambered down the stairs to the common room in his robe still half asleep. It was just after four in the morning and he decided he'd sit by the fireplace until it was time to get ready for breakfast but his plans were interrupted by a quick shift of movement.

Neville walked to the couch to find a pair of figures snogging so passionately that they didn't even take notice of his presence.

Since Neville had forgotten his glasses and it was so dark he couldn't tell who it was but he decided he didn't want to stand around to find out.

He quietly tiptoed away but being as clumsy as he was he knocked his knee into the coffee table and let out a loud yelp.

The two figures jumped up and the girl screamed.

"S-sorry! I was just- I'm leaving…just don't mind me," Neville mumbled.

The girl came up to Neville and now he could make out that it was Hermione, fully red in the face- if not more- than Neville was.

Neville looked over at her acquaintance to see that it was a rather agitated looking Ron who was as equally red in the face.

The three of them remained silent for minutes keeping their eyes off of each other.

"So…" began Ron awkwardly. "What's going on mate?"

"Nothing…I just…woke up and was going to come down here to kill some time," replied Neville.

Hermione cleared her throat and went to sit next to Ron, patting the empty space next to her.

"Uh no…um I'm actually leaving…"

Neville couldn't imagine how much more awkward things could get. He had just interrupted his friends snogging and now she wanted him to sit down and join them in a chat.

"No we need to talk," she argued.

Ron began rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hermione, I think…if he wants to leave we should let him."

"You've been avoiding me!" she accused, completely ignoring Ron.

"Er, no I haven't," began Neville sheepishly. "I've just been busy…"

"We were supposed to meet so I could help you study on Thursday and you didn't show up. What's going on?"

"Hermione…I don't think now is the best time to discuss this…" replied Neville.

"_Definitely not_," agreed Ron.

"So then when _is _the right time to talk to you? You're always running around here or there and nobody is able to keep track of you anymore!"

Neville sighed. He really wished he had just stayed in bed.

"Where are your glasses?" she asked.

"In the dorm."

"Ron go get Neville's glasses please?"

Ron turned to her with his mouth agape.

"What am I now your slave? Why don't you go get them?!"

"Because that would be weird. It's_ your_ dorm. Please Ron?"

Ron gave her a bitter look and groaned loudly as he got up.

"Thanks Ron," she replied.

When Ron had left Hermione gave Neville a hard look and lowered her voice.

"Among other things you've forgotten about lately…it seems you're forgetting to eat as well. When is the last time you've eaten_ anything_?"

It was Neville's turn to groan.

"Yesterday at dinner…I ate with Francis."

"But I didn't see you in the Great Hall at all to get anything."

"I arrived before anyone else."

"_Neville_…this is serious. I'm worried about you."

"Well you shouldn't be. I'm _fine_," he replied with a heavy stress on the last word.

"I don't think you are. I think you're letting the stress get to you. And how in the world are you supposed to perform at tomorrow's quidditch game if you haven't been eating?"

"I _do _eat. Sorry if you've been too preoccupied to take notice of this fact."

Hermione frowned.

Suddenly Ron reappeared and handed Neville his glasses and sat back down.

"Right well I'll see you guys later," mumbled Neville.

"So see you at breakfast then?" Hermione asked but rather it came out as more of a statement.

"Of course," replied Neville through clenched teeth. "Wouldn't miss it."

"Later mate," echoed Ron.

Neville quickly ran up to the dorm grabbed some clean clothes and decided he was long overdue for a bath in the prefect's washroom.

The last time he had a bath in here he was bombarded by Moaning Myrtle and after what he was subjected to with Hermione he really didn't feel like dealing with Myrtle as well.

He quietly made his way to the bathtub and turned the knobs slowly so that they wouldn't squeak. Although he was in doubt he hoped he'd be handed a break by Myrtle being somewhere else or stalking some other unfortunate student.

As soon as the bubbles were nearing the rim he slipped off his clothes and got in.

He placed his glasses on top of his piled clothes and leaned back, allowing the aroma of the bubbles to pass through his nostrils. This had been the most relaxed he'd been in over two weeks and he was going to enjoy what little of it he could get.

He had already decided the night before that other than his sessions he was going to keep his distance from Francis. After what he had seen he just couldn't be too careful.

Until he got to the bottom of _how_ exactly Francis and Snape were involved in that letter he was going to be wary of not only them but everyone else around him.

Here he was getting paranoid again.

So as soon as he left here he'd still have more time to kill until breakfast and then he'd have to plan ahead on finding a suitable washroom to go to afterward that no one would even think of using and then he had to face Francis at their session and act normal as not to let on that he knows something, then of course more classes and then lunch and then more classes and then dinner followed by Snape.

He thought back to his first day and the weight of his troubles- although still with him- seemed so much lighter. There was no Francis, there was no revealing that he's tied in with the prophecy, there was no real endangerment or attempted attacks on his family, there were no extra sessions with Snape, there was no quidditch.

Neville sighed.

But there had still been _that_ thing. Which was the only thing that had been keeping him in control and to say the least _sane_ and now even that was beginning to turn into a burden.

He suddenly became angry. Why should he feel threatened into giving up the one thing _he _has to benefit others and lessen their worry? It wasn't about them…it was about him for once. Nobody had ever taken notice of him in such a way before, no one had ever thought to ask him how he was or inquire to learn more about him.

And these were people he'd known for seven years! He'd gone to school with them, attended the same classes, lived, breathed and endured the same overbearing schedule and yet no one cared about him. He shouldn't have to go to even further lengths to hide something that no one would have even thought twice about in previous years.

Hermione was too clever even for this _thing_, and it was sneaky. It had managed to consume the better part of Neville's life for almost a year now and she was beginning to catch on. He didn't know how much longer he could delude her thinking but he knew one thing, Hermione- or anyone else for the matter- was_ not_ going to take this from him.

She's finally gotten what she's wanted for years with Ron so why couldn't Neville continue enjoying what he had? Sure he didn't have love like Hermione had but what he had was even better- control.

Neville had actually fooled himself into thinking that this would be the year he would grow into something worthwhile and that he would succeed in all that he did and finally make his gran proud of him. He honestly believed that after seven years in the making- out of all of his failures that he could redeem himself in his final year of schooling. All he had ever wanted was to be acknowledged- not ignored or pitied or forgotten.

It all seemed so terribly overwhelming what with all of his screw ups over the years. It almost seemed as if he'd have to experience an infinity of successes in order to even cancel out a single failure. He just felt so helpless.

He didn't know what it had been- maybe a combination of all of the stress he was under or the pressure he was putting on himself or just the fact that no matter what good he experienced he always branded himself a failure and accepted that he would never be good enough- but he burst into tears and found that he was unable to stop crying.

And this wasn't a silent, dry cry; this was loud, miserable, gut wrenching sobs. He hadn't cried like this since he had been told by his gran in his second year that he might as well prepare himself to earn a living on a muggle's wage after bringing home a report card full of _poors_ and_ dreadfuls, _despite Herbology of course.

After all of these years that particular memory had stuck with him.

His grades so far this year were all passing but were in danger of falling due to other commitments. He had made a goal for himself to earn an _outstanding_ in every single class, which for him would be a first but with the way things were going now he didn't see happening. Their midterm exams before the winter break were already looming closer and he hadn't even begun studying.

Neville's sobs were interrupted by the tub once again bubbling over. The water swished from side to side spilling over the edge and out emerged Myrtle, causing a huge tide of water to drench Neville's clothes.

"Oh, it's you! I was hoping you'd come back to visit me!" she shrieked giddily.

"Well I'm not exactly the best candidate for that at the moment."

"Why? What's the matter?"

"I'd rather not talk about it…" replied Neville.

"But you're crying…I've never seen a boy cry like this before."

"Myrtle I really just need to be alone right now…please-"

"But I was taught not to leave someone who is in distress alone…although no one ever took that into consideration while_ I_ was alive…"

"I'm fine. If you want to visit I'll come back another day but just please leave me alone for right now."

"Is it a girl?"

When Neville didn't answer Myrtle continued guessing.

"Oh I know! You're getting made fun of!"

"Myrtle just stop."

"But I only want to help…" she whined.

"Oh you've helped enough…_believe me_," he snapped.

"I have?" she replied puzzled floating just mere inches from his face.

"For future reference if you want people to like you then you ought to keep matters that don't involve you to yourself and stop spreading ugly rumors about people that you know nothing about," he explained.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm talking about what you told Harry about me the last time he was in here."

"Oh _that_…well that wasn't a rumor though because I witnessed you with my own eyes. Why don't you want people to know? Isn't he your friend?"

"Because it's none of _their _business! And it isn't any of yours either."

"I'm sorry…I didn't think you'd mind."

"_DIDN'T THINK I'D MIND_?! Of course I mind! Now thanks to you I've got my house mates watching my every move and following me around non-stop!"

"Maybe that isn't such a bad thing," began Myrtle. "Everyone needs friends and you're lucky to have any…I didn't even have one friend when I was alive."

"_Yeah I wonder why_…" muttered Neville under his breath.

"One of the things I regret most was not talking to people, when I was alive that is. Now I can talk to whoever I please but who's going to listen to a stupid ghost? Nobody."

Neville sighed.

He found that he did feel sort of sorry for her.

"No one ever comes in here to see stupid old Myrtle; it's always just to take a bath. If you've ever felt lonely now then I can assure you the loneliness is about a hundred times worse as a ghost," she gave a shrilly sigh and began floating around the tub in circles.

Neville jumped out of the tub and quickly threw his robe on and proceeded to slip his clothes on underneath of it.

"I've got to get going Myrtle. The next time I come in here we'll have a proper chat okay?"

"_Hmph_! Like I'm going to believe you just go see if I care!"

Neville ran out before she could stall him in any way.

When he reached the common room it was now empty so he went and sat down on the couch but found his eyelids were drooping so he closed them figuring he'd rest a minute.

Neville felt himself being shaken.

He opened his eyes to see Ginny looming over him.

"How long have you been down here?" she asked.

"What time is it?"

"It's seven everyone is already at breakfast."

Neville must have fallen asleep.

"Wow you must have been really tired," observed Ginny.

"Still am," he replied rubbing his eyes.

Suddenly Lavender approached them and stood beside him.

"Hello Neville…_Ginny_."

Ginny gave her a half smile and eyed Neville who returned her puzzled look.

Lavender cleared her throat.

"So Neville we didn't get to finish our conversation last week…I was wondering if you'd like to go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow after your quidditch game."

"Oh…"

Neville had been completely caught off guard.

"I'd love to but-"

"_Just us_," she added.

The contents of the letter appeared in his head warning not to leave until Saturday and that was still almost a week away.

Both girls watched Neville awaiting his answer.

"Sure why not."

Lavender shrieked and gave a tiny jump.

Neville didn't see what it could hurt. It's not as if them going to Hogsmeade together would turn into them dating, and he figured he deserved a little time away from everything that was going on, who knows, maybe it would even do him good. And what could possibly happen? If they just went straight to Hogsmeade and back he was sure they'd be fine.

"Great! Are you coming to breakfast?" she asked.

"Yes I er need to do something first…"

Neville had no idea what that _something _was but he had to buy time.

"How about we sit together? I'll save you a seat."

"Wonderful…" replied Neville as enthusiastically as he could muster.

Lavender gave Neville one last beaming, white smile and somewhat acknowledged Ginny before exiting.

Neville turned to Ginny helplessly and she stared at him with her eyebrows raised.

"Well…that was_ interesting_," she said.

"Yes…she seemed very excited."

"Well aren't you?" Ginny teased.

"I don't know…"

"Oh but you should be! You and Lavender are going to have _so _much fun! Discussing the interesting articles from her magazines and what the proper color of her nail polish is called…in fact, it might be too much excitement for you to handle!"

Neville groaned.

What had he gotten himself into?

They stalled for a few moments longer and finally went to the Great Hall.

Before Neville had even reached the gryffindor table Lavender was already jumping up and waving him over to sit next to her, and Parvati who had been seated at her left rolled her eyes.

Neville sat down next to her and smiled shyly.

He looked down the table and saw that Ron and Hermione had watched the entire event unfold with their eyes wide and they exchanged puzzled glances.

Ron then mouthed '_good luck, mate_'.

"I'm so excited about going to Hogsmeade tomorrow. Aren't you!"

Neville nodded in agreement.

"Yes...it should be fun."

Lavender talked to the entire time- so fast that she barely even had room for breathing and Neville simply nodded along and added a few '_ohs_' '_yeses_' and '_mmmhmms_' every couple of minutes.

In fact, Neville was actually glad that she was such a talker because already fifteen minutes had passed and she hadn't even taken notice that he had not eaten a thing, however Hermione did and he glanced over at her to find she'd been sneaking glares in his direction whenever Ron was too busy shoveling food into his mouth to say anything.

Finally he settled with a biscuit and took a bite, chewing as slowly and for as long as possible.

He took a swig of pumpkin juice and looked over to make sure Hermione saw him eating.

"Neville?"

He turned to Lavender who was frowning. She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and sighed.

"You haven't heard a word I've just said have you?"

"Uh, yes I have...you were talking about how there's that new shop you want to go to tomorrow."

"Oh...well then in that case," and she continued to talk about merlin knows what.

Neville just happened to look up and saw that Ginny had been watching him.

'_Help me_,' he mouthed to her.

Ginny began to crack up and had to hold her head down so no one would notice.

"What do you think about that Neville?"

"Huh?"

Lavender frowned again.

"I asked if you wanted me to go to your game tomorrow...you know to cheer you on. I wasn't planning on going but if you'd like me to..."

"Oh yeah...sure."

Lavender smiled widely at him and continued to talk.

Neville quickly pulled out his pocket watch. There was still another ten minutes until breakfast was over and he was beginning to feel panicky. He hated to think that the biscuit he had eaten was just sitting in his stomach, quickly turning into fat. It was poison and he wanted it out of his body.

"Oy Neville! You ready for the game tomorrow?"

Neville turned surprised to see that it was Dean that had spoken.

"Yeah..."

"Good. I know it's last minute but I've decided to hold one final practice this afternoon."

_'Great...'_

Finally everyone began to rise and Neville jumped up- eager to get out of there.

"Wait- Neville! Want to walk to class together?" asked Lavender who was practically running to keep up with him.

"Sorry Lavender, I've got something else going on! I'll see you later okay?"

Neville had to think fast before someone else decided to follow him.

He cut through towards the ravenclaw house and happened to find a washroom.

He didn't even bother to use a silencing charm because he would literally be in and out.

He kneeled over the toilet and immediately the biscuit- or the soggy chunks that had been reduced to- rose up and he quickly flushed it all away.

He quickly checked himself in the mirror and opened the door, shocked to find himself face to face with Luna Lovegood, who was smiling oddly at him.

"Hello Neville Longbottom. I thought I saw you go in there. What are you doing in this part of the castle? Are you lost?"

Neville laughed.

"Hi Luna and no I'm not lost...I just wasn't paying attention to where I was going and ended up here."

"Well you should stop paying attention more often...it gets lonely when you do not have any friends in your own house."

Neville's heart sank a little.

He knew exactly how she felt- or at least he used to.

"How are you doing?" he asked her.

"Oh fine I suppose. You are on the quidditch team now, right?"

"Yes. Our first game is tomorrow."

"That's wonderful Neville. Maybe I will come."

Neville smiled. Seeing Luna made him realize how much he had missed her. He didn't see her as often now as he had in the past two years.

"I'd like that."

They chatted for a few more minutes until Neville glanced at his pocket watch and realized he was fifteen minutes late for his session with Francis.

"Oh shoot Luna, I've got to go! I'll see you later!"

Neville took off running and when he burst into his office it caused him and Harry to jump.

"Sorry...I'm...late," he replied.

"We're happy to have you join us," replied Francis.

"I was just telling Harry how we're ready to start getting into some more advanced spells."

"Are you alright?" Harry whispered to him.

"Yeah...I uh ran into Luna and we had a nice chat."

Harry nodded acceptably.

------

Neville was on his way to the greenhouse when someone grabbed him by the arm.

"I need to talk to you."

Neville rolled his eyes.

It was Hermione and she looked very angry.

"I want to know what's going on right now."

"What are you talking about?"

"You didn't eat breakfast."

"I had a biscuit."

"That's not enough! And you have practice in only a few hours!"

"I'll manage," he replied as he pulled his arm out of her grip.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Aren't I allowed to just be stressed?"

She sighed.

"You're losing a lot of weight...it isn't healthy."

Those words rang repeatedly inside of his head.

He didn't feel as though he'd lost any weight but he couldn't know until he weighed himself.

"No I'm not..."

"Neville I'm not stupid and if you think no one can notice then you're wrong."

"I'm not trying to intentionally...and even if I was- what's wrong with wanting to lose weight?"

"Nothing except that you don't need to."

Neville scoffed and started to walk away but Hermione followed.

"Wait...that's what this is all about isn't it?"

Neville's heart jumped into his throat.

"You think you need to lose weight in order to play quidditch better."

"No..."

"Then what?"

Neville groaned.

"What will it take for you to get off my back? Tell me and I'll do it."

Hermione stared at him with her mouth slightly open.

It wasn't like him to show so much irritation towards anyone and he would _never _speak to anyone in such a rude tone. He had changed.

"I think you need to go to the hospital wing."

"I'll be the one to decide that."

Hermione bit her lip.

"Neville you can talk to me...whatever is going on you don't have to hold it in..."

Neville laughed and put on the fakest smile he could muster.

"Honestly _I'm fine_. We aren't dating anymore remember? Now you've got Ron you should be worrying about. He'd like that."

Hermione glared at him.

"Well whatever is going on I'm going to find out eventually."

_'Not if I can help it...' _he thought to himself.

_'If she were REALLY your friend she wouldn't be trying to get rid of me. She wouldn't be trying to make you eat. In fact, I think she wants you to be fat and miserable!'_

The voice had actually had a point. Hermione had no right to try and change or control him. This was his body and his life and he had finally begun to take that into consideration after spending his entire life doing things the way others wanted and those days were over.

Now it was about what he wanted.

"I've got to go," he mumbled.

When he reached the greenhouse Ginny was already inside waiting for him.

"So...breakfast was interesting."

"Yeah thanks for reminding me," he groaned.

"You didn't eat much," she observed nonchalantly.

"Wasn't hungry."

"Well you better get hungry otherwise you won't be able to practice."

"I'll be fine."

"You know," began Ginny narrowing her eyes on him. "You've gotten awful skinny lately."

Neville scoffed.

"I think you're seeing double."

"No really...have you been sick recently?" she asked.

"Not that I know of."

"Because I don't want you getting me sick!" she teased sticking her tongue out at him.

"Don't worry...you'll be the last person I go after."

She giggled.

"Ahem..."

They both turned around and saw Dean standing at the door.

Neville felt his face drain of blood and he glanced at Ginny out of the corner of his eyes.

"Um...I was just wanting to let you guys know that practice has been moved up. We're getting ready now so if you want to come and join us..."

And then he was gone.

They both exchanged guilty looks and took off for the quidditch field.

------

Neville opened his eyes and sat up.

He couldn't see anything. He felt around everywhere for his glasses.

"You gave your team mates quite a fright," replied Madame Pomfrey.

"Here," she replied placing his glasses on him.

He was in the hospital wing.

How in the world had he ended up here?

"What happened?"

"You fell off your broom. Thank heavens you weren't too high up otherwise I'd be here still trying to put you back together."

"What time is it?"

"It's just after ten."

"Ten o'clock!" he shouted.

That meant he had been out for almost eleven hours.

"_Shh, shh _dear it's alright," she replied soothingly. "Ms. Weasley and Mr. Thomas brought you in here. And then Ms. Granger came in to visit you."

Neville's heart began to pound.

He had a bad feeling that Hermione had said something to Madame Pomfrey. He could tell she knew something from the way she was staring at him.

"And she suggested that I let you rest for as long as you needed. She said you'd been under a lot of stress lately and that you haven't been taking very good care of yourself."

Neville held his breath and waited for it.

"Oh...well what else did she say?"

"That was all."

Maybe he was just getting paranoid again. No one knew...at least he was pretty sure no one knew- that is if you didn't count Moaning Myrtle. Now he was psyching himself out.

"I-I was supposed to...Professor Snape is going to kill me."

"Not at all dear. He's already been informed that you've been in here with me."

Neville released his breath.

That was a relief.

"I feel a lot better now. Would it be okay if I returned to my dorm?"

"I think it would be a good idea for you to sleep here tonight. It sounds as if you've got a busy day tomorrow and you want to make sure and get plenty of rest."

"Oh no really...that's not at all necessary."

Madame Pomfrey eyed him as if to say '_Do not test me. I know what is best for you_,' but she didn't.

No one did. He was the only one who knew what was best for him and he did not want to stay here.

Neville jumped down off the bed.

Madame Pomfrey watched him with her arms crossed over her chest. She couldn't have made it any less obvious that she was not in favor of him leaving but she didn't say anything else.

"Well thanks..." he replied.

"I want you to start seeing me daily."

"What? Why?"

"Your friend Ms. Granger is very concerned for your health and to be quite frank I am myself."

Neville stared at her and tried to hold in the anger that he was feeling.

He clenched his hands into fists and slowly tried to explain.

"Hermione has a tendency to get worked up over nothing..."

"She told me you haven't been eating. Is this true?"

Neville felt his blood begin to boil to its tipping point but he did his best to conceal it.

"Of course not...do I look like I don't eat?" he replied waving a single hand over himself, as if he were presenting to her how fat he was.

She raised an eyebrow and tsk'd which was what set Neville off.

"You know what..." he began, his voice projected louder than he'd intended. "I don't know why everyone seems to be picking me apart lately but I'm getting really sick of it! Okay, there are plenty of other students here who could benefit from seeing you more than I could! I'm stressed! Like no other student here has ever experienced stress before? It also gets pretty old having to repeat yourself daily. _I am fine!_ There is nothing wrong with me and I'm not not eating! Sometimes I just forget now is that a crime?"

Madame Pomfrey watched him sadly and sighed.

"I apologize Mr. Longbottom."

Suddenly Neville realized what he had just done. He couldn't seem to get a handle on his emotions anymore and he didn't know why. He had been snapping at professors and his house mates and it was not acceptable. That wasn't who he was.

"I am so sorry Madame Pomfrey! I-I'm so embarrassed. I d-didn't mean to go off like that. I was completely out of line and I assure you it won't happen again."

Madame Pomfrey's expression softened and she came over and placed a hand on his cheek.

"It's alright dear. You just remember that I'll be here if you ever need me."

He nodded and slowly walked out. He decided to go up to the astronomy tower so he could unwind for a little bit. Because after being out for eleven hours he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep a wink.

When he reached the top he was surprised to see Ginny already sitting there, staring out at the grounds.

"Mind if I join you..."

She slowly turned around to look at him but said nothing.

He went over and sat down next to her.

She turned to look at him and the first thing he noticed was that her eyes were puffy and bloodshot as if she'd been crying, but something else was off he just didn't know what yet.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

"That was terrifying Neville..." she began in a low voice.

"What was?"

She stared deeply into his eyes.

"What happened during practice today."

"Well I'm not sure if you're aware of this but I've uh been out cold for eleven hours so..."

"We were about an hour in and everything was going great but then you fainted mid-flight and fell. If you would have fallen from any higher..." Ginny stopped herself, unable to finish.

"I'm alright now..." he proclaimed.

Ginny gave a sarcastic laugh.

"You faint during practice and you say you're fine."

Neville shrugged.

"You really scared me," she continued.

It was when she said that that Neville figured out what had been off about her. The distinct smell of alcohol lingered from her breath.

"Have you been drinking Ginny?" he gasped.

"A little bit," she replied, accompanied by a perfectly timed hiccup.

"But...why?"

"Felt like it."

Neville watched her worriedly.

"What? It's not like I've never gotten drunk before- not that I'm drunk now but- remember I have six brothers at home and more than one of them have slipped a sip or two into my pumpkin juice."

Neville raised his eyebrows.

She was slightly slurring her words and wobbling back and forth.

"I think you should go inside and get some sleep," he replied.

"Says you!" she snapped. "You're the one who has been in the hospital wing for the past eleven hours! Let me have my fun!"

"Ginny," he whispered, trying to calm her down. "Why are you drinking? And how did you even get it passed school grounds? Who got it for you?"

"_Shhhhhhh_," replied Ginny pressing her finger to her lips.

He sighed.

"I had another fight with Dean after we took you to the hospital wing..."

"I'm sorry," replied Neville.

"He's such an asshole. So...that plus what happened to you...I just felt like I needed a drink."

"Or five?" questioned Neville.

"Well if we're counting then more like six."

Neville's jaw dropped.

"How long have you been drinking?"

"What time is it?" she asked.

He looked down at his pocket watch.

"It's ten thirty."

"Well then since before dinner."

"So you've been sitting up here by yourself since before dinner drinking?"

"Yep."

Ginny pulled a bottle out and offered it to him.

"No thanks...it's probably a good idea that one of us stay sober."

This had caused Ginny to laugh loudly.

"You are so funny Neville."

She stood up suddenly.

"I have to pee..."

"Errr..."

She wobbled and took a step forward and nearly tripped.

"Whoa! Be careful!"

Neville jumped up to catch her.

"Here let me help you."

"You are so good to me Neville...you know that?"

It seemed to take twice as long to get to reach the Fat Lady as it normally would but Neville was relieved once they finally did.

"Thank you Neville."

"You're welcome Ginny."

"No _really_...thank you."

Neville stared down at her completely puzzled.

And then what she did next was so unexpected that Neville couldn't have prepared himself if he wanted to. She took a step up to him as if she were going to hug him- but instead she did something else.

Ginny lightly pushed Neville away and took a step back, staring up at him in shock.

She had just_ kissed _Neville Longbottom.

Neville stood and stared back at Ginny with the same amount of shock on his face.

"G-Ginny, what are we- W-we _can't_-"

Ginny was suddenly hit with the realization that she had just kissed _Neville Longbottom_…and liked it. No, she_ loved_ it and she wanted to do it again and this scared the living daylights out of her.

"_Neville_," she began in a whisper, staring down at the floor, "I-I don't want to be with Dean anymore…"

"Ginny…what are you talking about?"

"I don't want to be with _him_. I want to be with you…"

"Okay now Ginny," Neville began softly with a sad grin. "I am pretty sure that is just the butterbeer talking…"

"No Neville, it's_ not _the butterbeer…"

"Ginny...let's just both of us go back to our dorms and get some sleep…"

"Neville!" Ginny squeaked, grabbing him by his tie and forcefully pushing him up against the wall.

"Listen to me…this is _not_ the butterbeer talking! This is me, Ginny Weasley talking…I just- I know I want you. I love the way you make me feel. Y-you listen to me and I mean _really, truly_ listen and it's always been _you_ who's been there for me, not Dean or Michael but_ you_. I know for a fact that you like me for who I am and not just because of my looks…I mean, I'm sure none of the other boys know that my favorite author is Ebony Swift or that in my spare time I read periodicals about the theory of intergalactic time traps…"

"Ginny, I-I don't know what to say…"

"I want you to say that you like me too…you do don't you?

"Ginny…this is just _so wrong_ on so many levels."

"How?"

Neville stared at the floor dejectedly and finally threw his hands up in exasperation.

"_Because_ Ginny, you are dating Dean! Dean is my mate. We've been dorm mates for seven years…_seven years_! And for me to betray him like this would be…unforgivable."

Ginny looked up at Neville, trying her hardest to look tough even though her eyes were glazing over with tears.

"_Don't think about it_…" she whispered.

"How can I _not _think about it Ginny? I've liked you ever since I took you to the Yule ball and I've dreamed of being with you for so long…but not this way…not like this…"

Ginny felt her lip begin to quiver.

She would_ not_ cry in front of a boy, she would not.

"I understand…" she whispered, unable to keep her voice from breaking.

She knew this was wrong. After all, she was still very much dating Dean but she couldn't control her developing feelings for Neville. Which were growing stronger by the day.

They both knew that Neville had been right. They both needed desperately to go back to their dormitories and just go to bed but that would mean avoiding the situation and then waking up the next morning going about things like every other day. It would be as if this never happened and Ginny didn't want that and she didn't want Neville to want that either. Even the thought terrified her.

Neville and Ginny continued to stand in the middle of the deserted corridor, staring at the floor in silence, sneaking side long glances at each other every few minutes.

"Neville…" Ginny began finally after moments of silence. "I just want you to know how much the other night meant to me. I think it was then that I realized for sure that I want to be with you. I mean, I think I knew a little bit before that too but was just still holding myself off because I wanted to be one hundred percent sure before I did anything drastic…"

"I was just being a friend…" Neville mumbled.

Ginny quickly closed her mouth and stared up at Neville defiantly. His comment had stung just a little bit but she wasn't about to let it show.

"By holding me in your arms so tightly that I couldn't have escaped even if I tried? By threatening to murder Dean with your bare hands under your breath when you thought I was griping too loudly to hear you? By leaning down to kiss me but then quickly pulling away and trying to play it off as you simply removing a piece of lint from my robes…is that what friends do Neville?"

When Neville didn't respond Ginny continued.

"And what about all of those times when I bitched to you about Dean and you willingly listened to me and offered advice although I could tell by the look in your eyes that each and every time you were hoping that _this_ time it would be me coming to tell you that Dean and I had broken up. What about the time when we were trying to study but I was too upset over something Dean said and you reached out to grab my hand but went to grab for a quill instead? I missed all of the signals before Neville but I see them now and here I am…"

Neville continued to listen intently although his eyes were planted on the floor with his arms wrapped protectively around his middle- which is something Ginny noticed that he did a lot.

Ginny wondered if he even realized that he did this. She wondered if it was out of insecurity or if it was nothing more than an act of nervousness.

Ginny stepped forward and gently pulled his arms away and planted them firmly on her waist. She then wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him to her, placing her head against his chest.

She could hear his heart beat and it was pounding fast.

She closed her eyes and allowed for the moment to settle in. No more words needed to be spoken and none were. They continued to hold each other, simply enjoying the feeling of the other; knowing that no words could express how good it felt to know that even though the timing might be wrong that they were both finally doing something right.

They were following their hearts.

------

**Author's Note: **Criminy! That was a well overdue update, right? As I mentioned in the last chapter's AT I'm back in college now after two years so I'm pretty busy with that and also easily distracted anyways! . But I promise I have not forgotten about this story and am in no way abandoning it! Anyways I will try really hard to get Chapter 18 up more quickly! Thanks for reading and please be sure to leave a review! There was a lot going on in this chapter! :)


	18. Violation

**Chapter 18: Violation**

"Oy, you lot set to win today?"

Everyone was at breakfast and the gryffindor quidditch team were all seated together to discuss various plays of today's game.

Neville knew he couldn't afford to skip any meals on account of what happened at practice yesterday.

He began piling a considerable amount of food onto his plate- which earned a few curious looks considering most days he either didn't show up to meals or ate as little as possible- while Dean continued to pep up the team.

Neville wanted to glance at Ginny so badly, just to see if she was looking at him but he knew she wasn't. Ever since they kissed last night they had avoided looking each other in the eye.

"And Neville," began Dean, turning to him. "We aren't going to be having you faint on us again are we?"

Neville felt his cheeks flush as he shoveled a mouthful of porridge into his mouth.

"No...course not. 'M fine."

Neville observed his breakfast.

An overflowing bowl of porridge, four strips of bacon, scrambled eggs with melted cheese, two hash browns, two sausages and a pancake.

Just looking at it was making him queasy and he could already feel his stomach expanding.

"Quite a lot of food ain't it mate?" Dean started. "You know what's happened before when you ate too much...we need you to be in tip top shape for the game."

Neville grimaced and started in on the food.

As everyone continued to talk amongst themselves Neville happened to notice that Dean and Ginny hadn't spoken to each other directly. He snuck a quick glance across the table at her and noticed that she was picking at her food and looked to be deep in thought. He quickly looked away.

Within another couple of minutes Neville had eaten everything and to his utmost horror and disbelief found that he was already going for seconds. His mind was screaming at his hands to stop reaching for more food but it was as if he had no control over his hands.

He grabbed three biscuits, two slices of toast and another bowl of porridge.

"Neville?"

He turned and looked down the table to see Lavender waving at him.

"We still on for tonight?"

He nodded and was suddenly taken with the strange feeling that someone was watching him.

He turned to see Ginny watching him sadly.

He forced the food down his throat and sighed.

Neville felt awful. He remembered back to a time when he used to love food but now he was simply eating just so people would stop being suspicious of him and to keep from fainting.

He didn't even eat to taste anymore. He hated the taste of food, the look of it, the smell of it. He hated everything about it and he hated himself even more for eating it.

Maybe joining the quidditch team wasn't such a good idea after all.

He quickly shoved the rest of his breakfast into his mouth, bite after bite until it was finally gone.

Now he had to get rid of it. He couldn't stand the thought of it just sitting, bloating his stomach, traveling through his veins carrying the fat cells to every limb of his body.

Neville pushed his empty dishes away and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Dean asked, looking down at his watch. "Breakfast isn't over for another fifteen minutes."

"Er...I forgot something in the dorm and then I've got something I need to do."

Dean shrugged and everyone continued on eating.

Neville rushed out of the Great Hall as fast as he could and once he reached the dorm his heart sank when he saw that Ron and Seamus were up there talking.

"Why aren't you two at breakfast with the others?" Neville asked, rather annoyed.

"Why aren't you?" Seamus countered.

"Just finished."

"So then what are you doing here?"

"Just needed to use the washroom."

"So then what's stopping you?"

Neville felt the anger begin to boil inside of him.

Why were they here?!

They should be down at breakfast with everyone else!

Now he couldn't do what he needed to do.

He continued to stand in front of the washroom with his arms crossed hoping that they would leave.

"What's got your knickers in a twist?" continued Seamus.

"Nothing," mumbled Neville.

"Say uh you've got your first game today right?" Ron chimed in.

"Yeah."

Ron gave a goofy smile and sighed.

"I sure do miss quidditch..."

"Want my spot? I'm not sure if I want to play anymore," offered Neville.

"What but why?"

"Dunno..."

Neville decided that he couldn't wait any longer.

"I uh...think I'll have a shower do either of you have to go in first?"

They both shook their heads.

"Uh...just warning you guys I may be in there awhile."

"'S all yours mate."

Neville entered and locked the door.

He prayed that they would be gone by the time he got out but he couldn't worry about that right now.

He looked down at his pocket watch. He only had about ten minutes to get to Francis' session.

He could already feel the food rising from his stomach so he kneeled above the toilet and everything began to spill out of him. He felt lighter with each disgusting mound of food that came up.

He continued to purge until there was nothing but bile.

He was finally satisfied.

He quickly brushed his teeth and rinsed his mouth out and opened the door to find that Seamus and Ron were staring at him strangely, they had stopped talking.

Neville froze and his heart began to pound.

"Were you...throwing up in there just now?" began Seamus.

No, no, no!

How could they have heard him?!

He put up a silencing charm...didn't he?

He went over his actions again in his head.

He walked in, locked the door...but forgot the silencing charm.

Neville had to refrain from slapping himself in the head.

How could he have been so stupid?!

He was beginning to panic.

"No..."

They both raised their eyebrows and looked at each other.

Suddenly Dean walked in.

Fantastic a distraction!

Neville had never been more pleased to see Dean.

"Oy what's going on?"

Dean followed Seamus and Ron's gaze towards Neville and turned back to them.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing," replied Neville before either Seamus or Ron could speak.

"I just...came up here to uh...I was going to shower but I can do that later. I uh...forgot my..." he looked around for something he could quickly grab. "I forgot my date book," he finished quickly, grabbing his father's diary off his night stand.

Dean raised his eyebrows and they all watched him.

"_You're weird._.." began Seamus slowly.

"What?"

"You've been acting really weird lately."

"What do you mean?" Neville questioned.

"You come running up here, ask _us_ what we're doing here then say you're going to take a shower and then instead go in there and yack your brains out and then come back out here and say you didn't. You act as if we've got the problem."

"I don't feel good..." replied Neville defensively. "I haven't for a while. I've been sick..."

"Thought you said you were fine," began Dean.

Neville gritted his teeth.

"I _am_ fine."

"Then why were you in there tossing your guts?" asked Seamus.

"I _wasn't_...I just ate a bit too much too fast. Acid reflux..."

"Whatever you say, mate."

"I'll see you guys later."

Neville quickly turned and walked out only to be followed by Dean who caught him by the arm before he could descend down the stairs.

"Hold on a second."

"Dean I've got to go..."

"Were you being sick in there? I mean...I need to know now if you don't feel like playing in the game today. I can't have you on the team if you're not well..."

Neville sighed.

"I'm fine. Seamus is just making a scene out of nothing."

"But...this hasn't just been a one time thing mate. It's happened a lot."

"Not recently. I just wanted to make sure I'd have enough energy to last me all day and I overdid it as usual. It's not a big deal. I'm fine and I will be okay to play, trust me."

"Glad to hear that mate because we need you. And we are _not_ going to lose this game."

Neville nodded.

"Take it easier...don't just shove everything into your mouth all at once. Eat smaller portions and space them apart accordingly so you don't get too full. That's your problem right there."

"Definitely. I'll see you later alright."

Neville rushed down the stairs and made his way to Francis' office, cursing himself under his breath the entire way. How could he have been so stupid?!

_'You idiot! You blundering, worthless IDIOT! What are you trying to do?! Are you trying to get us caught?!'_

Neville took a deep breath and entered.

"'Morning Nevi- oh dear...you don't look very well."

"I'm alright," he replied.

He sat down next to Harry and tried as hard as he could to avoid his uncle's eyes.

Francis watched the boy warily. He was very worried about him. It seemed that with each day he was growing weaker, mentally and physically. He also looked painfully thin as his once comfortably snug robe now practically hung off of him.

"Right then...shall we get started?"

------

"Alright boys. Well done today. Tomorrow we won't be meeting because I have some business to attend to so enjoy the rest of your day."

Harry got up and bolted out of the door and Neville stood up about to leave.

"Actually Neville...I was wondering if we could have a word?"

"Sure."

He sat back down and began tapping his feet anxiously.

"So...how are things?"

"Fine," replied Neville softly.

"Let's cut the small talk shall we? I'm very worried about you."

_'Right...and you're going to believe him?! He's a traitor! He's the enemy...he can't find out about me because he'll want to put an end to me...to us! And you don't want that do you? I'm keeping you thin. You don't want to be fat again do you? Everything is fine. Tell him!'_

Neville flashed his uncle his best smile.

"Everything is fine."

Francis sighed.

"I'm sorry...I know things have been...well, for lack of a better term, _awkward_ between us but I just want you to know..."

Francis paused and got up from behind his desk and kneeled in front of his nephew.

"Remember we said no more secrets? I've kept enough myself but I'm trying to make amends. If something is wrong...I want you to be able to confide in me."

"There's nothing wrong."

Francis' face fell.

Brown eyes locked on brown.

"You don't look well..."

"I don't?"

"Not at all."

"Well I've already been to see Madame Pomfrey and she says I'm fine."

"Neville..."

"You want to talk about secrets? What were you talking to Professor Snape about? I saw it in his mind...I saw you two...you had the same envelope that my letters came in..."

"Neville, there's a perfectly good explanation for that."

"Then what is it!"

"I can't discuss this with you now..."

"Why not?"

"It isn't safe..."

"When is anything ever safe?! What are the walls going to run off and blab everything that you've told me? When will it ever be safe?! When will my life ever be _NORMAL_?!"

"Look," began Francis, lowering his voice. "I promise this will all make sense in time...you just have to trust me."

"Well you've made that rather difficult now haven't you?"

Francis placed his head in his hands.

"Oh Neville..."

"I'm sorry. I've just been so stressed...I didn't mean to..."

"I understand this is all very confusing for you right now. I know you're stressed and angry and have more questions than answers but I give you my word that some day...all of this will have all been worth it."

"Easy for you to say," mumbled Neville.

Neville looked up into his uncle's face and saw that the older man's expression was pained. More tired lines showed on his face and the shadows under his eyes were darker and even the gray in his hair was grayer. He looked as if he had aged five years in one week.

"Neville..." he began pleadingly. "You can be angry at me all you want, you don't even have to trust me but please promise me that you will take care of yourself. There are so many people who need you."

"I've got to go."

------

Neville flushed the toilet, brushed his teeth and rinsed out his mouth.

_Rinse, lather, repeat._

He took off his glasses and rubbed the lenses on his robe. He then examined himself in the mirror.

His face looked...fatter if at all possible.

He brought his hands up to his cheeks and began pulling and pinching at the fat. He then brought his hand up to his neck- or what little of one there was- and tugged at the skin there.

_Bloodshot eyes._

_Pale face._

_Dry, cracked lips._

Neville had been feeling particularly ugly today but looking at himself made it that much worse.

He sighed and quickly pulled his robe up over his head, rolled it up and threw it into the corner.

He then lifted his sweater up and began to inspect and pinch at the fat surrounding his stomach.

There was so much of it.

He hadn't been quite this disgusted with himself in awhile.

Here he was pinching away at all of the fat clinging to him and getting emotional like some girl.

_'You may as well have been a girl, Longbottom...with your fat hips, fat thighs...and breasts!'_

"SHUT UP!"

_'You know I'm right...you can see it too. You're disgusting. No wonder Ginny has been ignoring you. No wonder she can't even look at you. Remember when she saw you without your shirt? Remember the look on her face? THAT is what she sees every time she looks at you. A big, fat lump. Worthless. Weak. Pathetic...'_

"STOP!"

_'And to think...I thought I could help you. I've tried but you're slacking. Stuffing your fat face with every bit of food in sight. You're worse than a giant...just as ugly too.'_

"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

Suddenly there was a loud shatter that broke through Neville's screams.

And then the pain hit him.

_Blood. _

_Everywhere._

Neville had smashed the mirror with his fist.

"_Oh fuck_..."

Someone was pounding on the door.

Neville wrapped his bloody hand in toilet paper and calmly opened the door to find Harry, Ron and Dean on the other side, their eyes wide with shock.

"What the bloody hell..." started Ron.

"Fuck mate!" Dean shouted. "What did you do?!"

"Err..."

Neville wasn't even going to try and explain his way out of this one.

"Who were you talking to...?" asked Harry, his eyes narrowed. "We heard you screaming all the way from down in the common room."

"No one..."

"Uh you were talking to somebody mate."

"Myself..."

Ron pushed past Neville to inspect the damage.

He tsked and turned to Neville.

"Wow, looks like you definitely got some much needed aggression out..."

"You should have saved that for the game mate," said Dean.

"Might want to uh...go to the hospital wing and get that looked at..." replied Harry, pointing down at Neville's gashed hand.

Neville was beginning to get woozy so he pushed past his house mates and sat down on his bed.

The other boys all filtered out and went back down to the common room except for Harry.

"Are you alright? Er well, despite your hand of course..."

Neville sighed.

"I don't know what's gotten into me."

"You want to talk about it?" asked Harry, sitting down on Neville's bed.

"Nothin' to talk about really."

"Well...for starters how are you feeling about classes?"

"Eh, they are going alright I suppose...need to focus more though."

"Alright, now how about our sessions?"

"Phft, now those I could do without..."

"Okay...how about quidditch?"

"Yeah...don't know what I got myself into with that..."

"It'll be fine once you get used to it. It'll be overwhelming for the first few games but you'll get the hang of it. It's really quite fun and quite rewarding too especially when you win."

"Harry...can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go on mate."

"I-I...well as you know I'm new to all of this...well...you are the chosen one but now that I'm involved it's just like my entire world has been turned upside down. Everything is spinning and I'm trying desperately to find my way up. You must have felt like this...how do you deal with it?"

Harry gave a tiny smile.

"I'm still learning...it definitely hasn't been easy Neville but it gets easier. I'll help you. As for me though, Sirius has kept me in check and if it weren't for him...I honestly can't say where I'd be right now. I can talk to him about anything and he's always here for me...maybe you should talk to him as well. He wouldn't mind."

"Maybe..."

"All seven years of my life...of _our_ lives has led up to this. A war is about to break out, Neville. In fact, it's already begun. Voldemort is coming for blood. He won't stop...it's him or me. He can't win...even if I have to die merlin knows I'm taking him down with me."

Silence.

Neville gulped and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

The reality of all of this had just set in.

Harry could die.

_He _could die.

Would it all be worth it then?

Was he even ready to die?

Harry's words echoed through his mind.

This was it. All of his life he'd been a _loser_, a _nobody_, a _failure_ and now he was expected to help Harry fight against Voldemort?

He was the other boy who's fate was tied in with the Dark Lord's himself?

He was the other boy who can possibly help defeat him?

It just didn't make sense to him.

He wasn't a _hero_. He wasn't _brave_. He wasn't _strong_.

He was just Neville Longbottom.

"I know everyone has come to the conclusion that I'm this invincible hero who can do anything...but I'm really not. Nobody listens when I say it's been luck this entire time. Ron blows it off and Hermione says I'm just being modest but everything up until now _has _been luck Neville and it's going to take a lot more than luck to kill Voldemort. I don't know if I'll ever be a hundred percent ready but I'm going to try. I'm not going to give up until I'm cold and dead."

Neville simply nodded and wondered why he couldn't have the same mentality as Harry.

------

Neville was so nervous he thought he was going to pass out.

His palms were so sweaty he could barely pull on his protective gear.

He wiped his palms on his knees and wrung his hands out, taking deep breaths.

This was it.

It was game time.

The team all gathered in a circle, put their hands in, bellowed out the team chant and broke apart.

His heart was pounding a million miles a minute and to make matters worse, Ginny chose this moment to approach him.

"Nervous?" she asked with a smirk.

"That obvious eh?"

"Don't worry...I am too. We all are but you'll do great."

Neville blushed and took a deep breath.

"I uh, also wanted to apologize to you for the other night...I put you in a really awkward position and I never should have...well, I don't want to say that but...basically you were right. I imagine I've screwed things up enough what worse could come of it?"

"No, Ginny...I'm sorry too. I...it felt nice. I just wish...that things were different, you know?"

"Yeah," she agreed.

"So don't worry about it. That's in the past."

Ginny clasped her hands tightly and began to shift back and forth on her feet.

"I broke up with Dean."

"_What_?"

"Yeah...that's why things have been so awkward between us."

"But Ginny..._why_?"

"I meant it when I said I didn't want to be with him anymore..."

"How did he take it?"

"Not good...but I think he saw it coming. And eventually after this all blows over maybe we can be friends...but for right now he pretty much wants nothing to do with me...can't say I blame him."

"Well uh, guess we should get out there...yeah?"

"Yeah..."

Suddenly the door to the locker room opened and Hermione, Ron and Harry entered.

"We just came to wish you guys good luck," replied Hermione, wrapping them both into a tight hug.

"Oh yeah, don't worry you'll cream the hufflepuff's. Everyone knows they're the worst team," assured Ron.

"You guys ready?" asked Harry. "They're all out there waiting for you."

Neville and Ginny looked at each other.

"Right," began Hermione. "Well good luck to both of you and we'll be watching."

Hermione began walking towards the door but when Harry and Ron failed to follow she grabbed them both by their sleeves and pulled them along after her.

"So..." began Ginny. "How are you feeling? You aren't dizzy or anything are you? Merlin knows we can't have you fainting on us again. That was really scary."

"I feel fine. I'm actually getting kind of excited now to be honest."

And he was. They could already hear the crowd cheering from the stadium and his adrenaline was pumping.

"Right well...suppose we really ought to get out there now," replied Ginny.

They both stood awkwardly for a few more seconds before Ginny got up on her tip toes and planted a quick kiss on Neville's cheek.

"Good luck," she whispered. "Not that you'll need it or anything..."

------

"LONGBOTTOM SCORES AGAIN! That's 80 points for gryffindor and 20 for hufflepuff!"

"Amazing mate!" Exclaimed Dean as he flew by Neville and slapped him on the back. "Be sure to watch out for O'Hurley and Bennett though. They've got their eyes on you and you've just barely escaped the bludgers so be careful!"

The hufflepuff keeper threw the quaffle back into play and immediately Neville felt the force of a bludger knock into the back of his broom.

"OH and Longbottom takes a hit!"

Yonni Meeker, one of the hufflepuff beaters then flew by Neville so quickly- that if you blinked you'd miss it- and elbowed him in the chest as he went for the quaffle and scored.

"THAT'S 30 FOR HUFFLEPUFF! They're catching up fast!"

Neville gasped for breath.

"Neville what's wrong?!"

Ginny flew over to him.

"N-nothing...m'fine just got a little winded."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

This time Neville kept his eyes wide open and as soon as the quaffle was thrown into play he dove for it and of course there was Marlon O'Hurley coming for him. Neville dipped his broom and flew underneath of him.

"Longbottom's got the quaffle! Oh and he does a nose dive right under O'Hurley, who didn't see that coming."

"Neville, I'm open!"

"He passes to Patil and oh- so close! Now Bennett's got the quaffle...he's going for the goal-"

Ornry Bennett grabbed the quaffle and quickly scored.

"AND HE MAKES IT! That's 40 FOR HUFFLEPUFF!"

"TIME!" Dean yelled.

The gryffindors all mounted off of their brooms and met down on the quidditch pitch.

"Alright guys, we're doing good. However they're gaining on us pretty fast. We've got to keep our defenses open. Neville you need to be careful...they're starting to play dirty. So we're going to do this. I'm going to go for the quaffle and if I don't get it then Parvati I want you to intercept if at all possible and Gabe, Pablo you two aim for Meeker, he's the one we need to really to keep our eyes on. Alright? We can do this you guys. On three- one, two, three!"

They all mounted their brooms and flew back up into position.

Neville's heart was fluttering.

He could taste the victory already.

He had been looking out for any signs of the snitch but decided to leave that up to Ginny.

His adrenaline was going and he felt good.

He had scored five out of the eight goals and it felt amazing...rewarding even, just as Harry had said.

"Thomas has the quaffle...oh and it's intercepted by Regan- nevermind Knott hurls a nice drive towards Regan and...Patil's got the quaffle and she's going for it- and she scores! That's 90 points for gryffindor!"

The crowd was roaring and Neville squinted towards the stands and could see Harry, Hermione, Ron, Seamus and Luna Lovegood all jumping up and down.

So this is what it felt like to not be invisible?

"OH! LADIES AND GENTLEMAN! WEASLEY IS DIVING DOWN...TURNER'S ON HER TAIL...THIS MAY BE IT...WEASLEY'S COMING BACK UP AND OH LADIES AND GENTLEMAN THAT'S IT! SHE'S GOT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

They all flew down hurriedly, jumped off their brooms and began hugging one another- with the exception of Dean and Ginny of course who stayed far away from each other- and chanting.

People from the stands began to come down onto the pitch to congratulate them.

"Awesome job guys! I couldn't have asked for a better team!" Exclaimed Dean.

"You were great Neville," replied Ginny softly, as she gave him a quick hug.

"Thanks," he replied blushing. "You too."

"Neville you were fantastic! Good thing you stayed conscious the entire game!" Parvati joked. "So...you'd probably better go back and get ready for your date with Lavender...she was going to come and watch but she's been getting ready for the past hour."

Neville's heart sank a little.

He had almost completely forgotten that he and Lavender were supposed to go to Hogsmeade.

"Right..."

He looked at Ginny who forced a tiny smile.

He congratulated his team mates one more time and took off for the castle.

By the time he reached the common room Lavender was already sitting down on the couch, reading one of her magazines while waiting for him to arrive.

"Neville!" She squealed, running up to him and throwing her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. "Did you win?!"

"Yes."

"Congratulations! I knew you would! Oh I'm so excited to go to Hogsmeade! Aren't you?!"

He had to admit, she looked very nice.

Lavender was a very pretty girl no doubt but she had just never really been his type. Not only that but he never dreamed a girl who looked like Lavender would ever be interested in a guy who looked like him, but he liked girls who were a little more self aware and a little more intellectually stimulating.

Lavender was smiling so wide that all of her perfectly white teeth were in full view.

Her blonde hair was pulled back into a lovely french braid and held into place with a black head scarf. She was wearing a short pink frock over a pair of black leggings. Not only were her nails painted accordingly to match her frock but her make up followed the pink color scheme as did her purse.

Neville was strongly reminded of bubble gum.

"Yes...I'm just going to go upstairs and change really quick...freshen up a bit. It'll only take me about ten minutes."

"Okay but try not to take too long!"

Neville quickly peeled off his uniform, jumped in the shower and was now trying to decide on what to wear. Technically it wasn't a date, at least not to him. So he didn't want to dress too nice but then again he didn't want to be too casual. He opened up his trunk and pulled out a blue and white pinstriped shirt his gran had bought him and a pair of brown corduroys. He quickly threw them on and went to examine himself in the mirror until he realized he had broken it earlier.

"Damn."

He wanted to see how he looked.

He felt ridiculous and fat but he couldn't keep Lavender waiting.

In reality the trousers were once quite fitted on him but now his belt could go all the way to the second to last notch.

He quickly towel dried his hair, sprayed on a little cologne and made his way downstairs.

"Right...are you ready?" He called down.

By now the other gryffindors were starting to filter in and Neville wanted to sneak out before any more of them showed up.

His cheeks were already beginning to flush.

Lavender stood up and gawked at him.

"Wow...you look fantastic! Let's go!"

She grabbed him by the arm and they fled the common room.

------

They were currently sitting in Honeydukes and while Lavender spoke the mysterious letter's warning kept repeating in his head.

But they had made it here without any problems so he wasn't worried.

"Neville, I'm so glad you came with me. Are you having a nice time?"

"Yes, I'm having a lovely time."

It was nice for him to get away, even if it was just for a little bit.

A young witch not much older than them came up and offered them both more cheesecake and other various pastries."

"Yes um I'll take another slice of that chocolate cheesecake, a slice of strawberry shortcake and the fruit cocktail delight."

Neville couldn't believe Lavender didn't even seem phased by how many calories she was putting into her body. He was amazed at how she was able to stay so thin with all she was currently eating. He wondered if she worried about food like he did.

"Alright and for you?"

"Oh um just some more tea please. No sugar."

"Alright I'll have that right out for you."

"I'm telling you Neville you should get something. It's all so delicious."

"Oh I'm good thanks."

Neville reached over to hand Lavender his spoon.

"Oh Neville! What happened to your hand?!"

"It's fine...just a little mishap in the washroom."

"That looks really bad, Neville. Have you had it checked out?"

"It's fine. I know it looks bad but it'll be okay."

"Alright here you go. If you need anything else I'll be right over there."

"Thank you," replied Lavender with a flashy grin.

"Mmmm," she replied as she took three large bites of her desserts. "Here, try some."

She scooped up a slice of everything and held it up to Neville's mouth.

He turned his head away and shook his head furiously.

"N-no thank you. I'm good, really."

Lavender frowned.

"You don't know what you're missing," she replied in a pouty voice.

"It looks good, maybe I'll have some next time."

"I really like you Neville...I've always thought you were kind of cute but I mean now- well no offence but you're so much more handsome than you used to be. I mean, don't get me wrong we all go through an awkward stage, even I did at one time. But you look really good and you're such a nice guy. I should have listened to Parvati in the first place. I wasted so much time with Ron that I didn't allow myself to get to know other people."

She sighed and took another bite of her desserts.

"T-thank you..." he replied awkwardly.

"Are you _suuure _you don't want a bite?" She teased, waving a spoonful of her cake in front of his face.

"_Positive_," he replied through clenched teeth.

"Ugh, I'm going to pay for this later I'm sure...but it was _so_ worth it!"

After she finished they got up and walked around for a little bit and visited a few more shops before heading back.

"So would you be up for doing this again sometime?" Lavender asked, grabbing hold of his hand as they walked.

"Sure."

Neville felt a pang of guilt stab at him as the defeated look on Ginny's face came into his mind.

It was awfully dark and Neville pulled his wand out from his back pocket to light their way.

"Lumos."

"Neville, what was that?"

Suddenly they stopped walking and listened.

What sounded like footsteps following them stopped as well.

"_Stay close to me_..." he whispered.

Lavender tightened her grip on his hand and they continued walking, quickening their pace.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see shadows closing in on them.

And before they could run Neville felt a cold, wet hand come through his chest.

He gasped and turned around and began to fight it off.

The last thing he heard before slipping into darkness was Lavender's bloodcurdling scream.

------

**Author's Note: **Yay another cliffhanger! Don't you just love those? :) Not much to say...you know the routine! Read, review! I loves me some feedback! Chapter 19 to follow. Thanks for reading!


	19. Intimidation

**Chapter 19: Intimidation**

_And before they could run Neville felt a cold, wet hand come through his chest._

_He gasped and turned around and began to fight it off._

Dementors. Hundreds of them.

"Neville! What's going on?!"

"Run Lavender!"

Instead she stood, her face frozen with terror and as white as the pavement beneath them.

More dementors were coming their way and Neville could feel himself grow weaker with their presence.

He quickly grabbed his wand.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Nothing happened and his wand was knocked out of his hand.

"NEVILLE!"

He was weak, everything was growing darker and he was beginning to feel very cold.

_The last thing he heard before slipping into darkness was Lavender's bloodcurdling scream._

------

_Neville awoke to malevolent laughter ringing in his ears._

_"I see you found the boy...but who is his little friend?"_

_Neville quickly jumped up and pulled Lavender behind him._

_"Whoever you are you leave her alone!" He shouted. "I'm the one you want!"_

_"You're absolutely right. Three's a crowd."_

_Suddenly a dark figure emerged from the shadows and with the flick of a pale, willowy hand Lavender vanished into thin air._

_"So we finally meet face to face," continued the figure, who's identity was concealed under his large black hood. "Unfortunately for you it is to be your end."_

_"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER? WHERE IS SHE?"_

_"Oh don't worry...she is in a much better place. Trust me."_

_"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?"_

_"Don't worry..." began the figure darkly. "This won't take long," _

_With another quick flick of his pale hand Neville was bound._

_Then he raised his wand and pointed it right between Neville's eyes._

_"Any last words?"_

_"Yeah, FUCK YOU!"_

_"Tsk, tsk, tsk. It's a shame your parents weren't around to have tought you better manners...oh and that reminds me! Your Grandmother wanted me to pass something on to you before I killed her...oh but if only I could remember what that was..."_

_Neville's heart sank and his entire body went numb._

_"Oh yes! I suddenly remember, she wanted me to thank you for providing me with this as it made her death a little less...painful." And with that he held up a long, rusted chain with a key attached. "You were oh so generous to have forgotten it in a place that was easy for me to access."_

------

Neville awoke with a gasp.

He could feel someone had been shaking him violently.

"NEVILLE! WAKE UP! NEVILLE!"

He looked up to see Lavender hovering over him, squeezing his shirt collar.

She looked pale and was shivering. She was growing weaker too.

"They're still coming! They're everywhere! What are we going to do?!"

The dementors were still closing in on them.

Neville clambered around furiously searching for his wand.

"Give me your wand!"

"I don't have it!" Lavender screamed.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Suddenly a large flash of silver light enveloped them and quickly took on the form of a Doe.

Within seconds all of the dementors were gone and they were alone again.

"Why would there be dementors here in Hogsmeade?!" Lavender shrieked, still shaking furiously.

"TWO HUNDRED POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR! FROM EACH OF YOU!"

The skin on Neville's scalp began to crawl.

He could recognize that voice anywhere.

Professor Snape came walking towards them from around the corner and when he reached them he grabbed them both under their arms.

"WHAT ON EARTH...ARE YOU BOTH DOING HERE AT SUCH AN UNTIMELY HOUR?"

"P-prof- I don't...I don't- please-" began Lavender, but she was unable to finish because she immediately went limp and passed out cold.

The next thing Neville knew they had apparated and were in the hospital wing.

With his grip still tight on Neville's arm, Snape summoned Madame Pomfrey to tend to Lavender and without a single word Snape dragged Neville all the way to the dungeon where he threw him down next to Harry who had already been waiting for their session to begin.

"You may leave, Potter. Today's lesson has been canceled."

Harry looked from Snape to Neville, shrugged and left.

"Professor...how did you know I was at Hogsmeade?"

"_I _will be asking the questions here, Longbottom!"

Neville still felt weak but continued to fight it.

"What were you and Ms. Brown doing at Hogsmeade?"

"We were just hanging out..."

"Do you not ever listen boy? Does not one simple detail fail to register within your mind? I believe you were informed not to venture off on your own."

"I _KNEW_ it! You sent those letters didn't you!"

"I have no idea what you are speaking of."

"But I SAW IT! I saw it in your mind! You and my uncle had the envelope! One of you sent them!"

"I'm afraid you are highly mistaken, Longbottom. We have done no such thing."

"And I'm supposed to believe _you_?" Neville snapped.

"What happened after you and Ms. Brown went to Hogsmeade?"

"Why? Why do you want to know?"

"Longbottom...I will _not_ play games with you!"

"Well then don't! I know you're involved in all of this somehow! I know how you're a Death Eater! Yeah, I know ALL about that! I wouldn't trust you if my life depended on it and If I find out that you had ANYTHIN to do with the disappearance of my family you'll be sorry..."

Snape's eyes flashed and he quickly grabbed Neville by his collar and lifted him up out of his seat so that their noses were practically touching.

It was happening again.

Various memories from Neville's mind began to pass before his eyes at an alarming rate and tried to make it stop but he couldn't.

He was too weak and Snape was too strong.

He saw himself and Lavender sitting at Honeydukes and then walking around in the shops and then the dementors attacking them.

And then the vision he had of the mysterious dark figure with the key and then they were gone.

"Longbottom _where is the key_?"

"I-I...what key? I don't know anything about a key!"

"Do NOT play games with me Longbottom! WHERE IS IT?"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

Snape released him and began to pace back and forth.

"What's going on? How did you know where I was? What were you doing there?"

Suddenly Snape stopped pacing and he stared hard at Neville, his eyes wide and black.

"You know where it is," he murmured. "Don't you?"

"No I- nuh I- no I don't! Th-that vision just came out of nowhere...I have no idea! I don't know of any key!"

"YOU'RE LYING!"

"NO I'M NOT!"

"DO NOT UNDERMINE ME BOY!"

"Whatever this is about...you won't get away with it!"

"_So utterly clueless_," began Snape lowering his voice, his eyes once again reducing to slits. "_You are your own enemy, Longbottom _and it's only a matter of time before your own stupidity comes to destroy you." The venom in his voice pierced Neville's ears and sent a shiver up his spine.

"What is that supposed to mean? Are you threatening me?"

"Right now you are your biggest threat Longbottom and if you paid as much attention to where you left your personal belongings as you did your ill-fated conscience then you might just be able to remember where you left the key..."

"WHAT KEY?"

"You play stupid well, Longbottom...but now isn't the time."

"I will not sit here and allow you to continue insulting me. So unless you tell me HOW you knew where I was I'm leaving."

"You aren't going anywhere."

"Now that was a threat."

"Very good, Longbottom...I see you're learning."

"You can't keep me here!"

"Despite having those unfortunate spectacles you are blind as a bat, Longbottom. You really have no idea what you are doing."

"Yeah, well I don't need you or anyone else telling me that!"

Snape turned to Neville again.

"You're hiding something..."

"And you aren't?!" Bellowed Neville, jumping out of his seat.

"Longbottom, sit down!"

"I'm going to get to the bottom of this and when I do you'll have a nice, cold spot in Azkaban waiting for you!"

Snape's eyes flashed again and his face quickly contorted with rage.

"YOU KNOW NOTHING!"

"KEEP TELLING YOURSELF THAT!"

And with that Neville ran from the dungeon as fast as he could.

He looked back a few times to make sure that Snape hadn't followed him.

Neville went to the hospital wing to check on Lavender but she was resting so he decided he needed to talk to someone, but who?

He didn't feel he could talk to anyone. He didn't feel he could trust anyone.

And that was when he was reminded of Harry's offer to talk to Sirius.

Neville needed to talk to someone outside of Hogwarts.

He quickly ran up to the dorm to grab the letters and then snuck outside past Hogwarts grounds where he apparated to number 12 Grimmauld place.

He knew it was stupid to be out wandering around on his own, especially after the letter's warnings heeded true with his being attacked tonight but he had to find some answers. He couldn't keep hiding and hoping that the answers would come to him.

Slowly he walked up the steps and knocked on the door.

He looked down at his pocket watch. It was almost midnight.

Neville hoped that Sirius was here but the sinking feeling in his stomach told him otherwise.

He knocked once more and waited another minute and was preparing to leave when the door slowly opened to reveal an ugly, looking house elf who looked to be very old and very mean.

He snarled up at Neville, looking him up and down and then slammed the door shut.

Neville stood there in shock, wondering what on earth could have possibly possessed him to react that way.

So Neville knocked again until the ugly house elf answered again.

"Kreacher does not take kindly to those who disturb the Black residence at such an hour. Kreacher also does not take kindly to serving those who are not _Pure Bloods_."

"Oh, b-but I-I am a _Pure Blood_...and I'm sorry it's so late but I need to talk to Sirius. Is he here?"

Kreacher stared up at Neville with disgust and was about to slam the door again but Neville placed his foot in the door.

"Please? It's urgent!"

"My master does not wish to see anyone. Now Kreacher must ask that you leave."

"It will only take a moment, I promise! Could you please just get him for me...I-I don't even have to come in."

"Kreacher has orders he must follow! Chores to finish! Kreacher will not waste his time any longer!"

"Kreacher? Who are you talking to?"

Neville attempted to stick his head in the door but Kreacher kicked him in the shin.

"Ow!"

"Kreacher?"

"Yes sir! Kreacher is here."

"Who are you talking to?"

"Someone is here to see you, sir. What is your name?"

"Neville Longbottom."

Suddenly Kreacher's face lost some of it's nastiness and he immediately bent down and began to kiss Neville's shin where he had kicked him.

"Oh! Kreacher apologizes! Kreacher is so sorry sir! Kreacher did not know he was conversing with Neville Longbottom!"

Kreacher then placed his tiny, rough hand into Neville's and led him inside and began bowing down to Neville again.

Neville blushed and found that he felt rather ridiculous.

"Er, apology accepted...and that's really not necessary..."

"Oh but it is Master Longbottom! Kreacher is so sorry he disrespected you!"

Kreacher then began to hit himself.

"N-n-no, don't do that! Stop!"

"But Kreacher must punish himself sir."

"Kreacher who's here?"

"Neville Longbottom sir!"

"You've punished yourself enough," began Neville. "And please...call me Neville."

"Yes sir!"

A few minutes later Sirius Black descended from the stairs.

"Neville, what in Merlin's name are you doing here?"

"S-sorry it's so late...I-I was desperate...I won't stay long I promise..."

"Oh it's not a problem I'm just rather surprised to see you here is all. Come, Kreacher thank you. You may return to your duties."

"Yes sir, right away sir!"

Neville followed Sirius to the same room where the Order gathered.

"Would you like some tea? Something to eat?"

"Oh um, no thank you."

"So Neville...what brings you here? Does anyone know you're here?"

Neville blushed.

"Er no actually...I kind of just snuck out."

Sirius grinned.

Neville suddenly felt incredibly stupid. He realized he didn't even know Sirius that well. After all, he was Harry's Godfather and Neville had only seen and spoke to him a few times. The tension in the room was making him nervous, although he was the one creating it.

"So what seems to be the trouble?" Began Sirius.

Sirius looked rather tired. His long, black hair was pulled back out of his face and his once youthful appearance- as Neville had seen in old photos of the original Order- were slowly beginning to wither away with time and age, and also with his years spent in Azkaban but there was still a trace of the good looking man he once was.

Sirius' face suddenly fell.

"Are you in some sort of trouble?"

"Er..." Neville sighed.

Sirius examined the boy and didn't quite know what to think.

He didn't know the boy well, only from what Harry and others had told him but he got the feeling that the boy was immensely shy and insecure.

Sirius hadn't seen Neville since the day he and Harry came to meet with the Order and he noticed that the boy looked even thinner and more worn down than he had then.

"I-I'm sorry it's so late...and to be wasting your time. I-I don't know what made me think to come here. I hope I didn't wake you..."

"Oh no, I was already awake. I'm usually awake this time of night."

"I was talking to Harry the other day...and h-he mentioned that maybe I should talk to you..."

"Of course," replied Sirius with a warm smile.

"I just...I-I just..."

Neville found himself to be intimidated by the older man and was suddenly hit with a feeling of guilt for believing all of the hideous lies and rumors about Sirius without having known him. Sure he was a prisoner of Azkaban but it turned out that he had been framed.

Neville also had to remind himself that Sirius knew his parents and were good friends with them so he shouldn't have been so nervous.

He took a deep breath and continued.

"I don't know who I can trust anymore..."

Sirius frowned.

"My, that most certainly is a problem..."

"It all started with these letters I received weeks ago..."

Neville pulled the letters out of his cloak and handed them to Sirius.

He continued to speak as Sirius read the letters.

"So not only do I not know who sent the letters but I don't know if I can trust whoever wrote them. Then one night I went to go visit with Francis and Professor Snape was in there with him and I-I think they were talking about me and I just had a really bad feeling. So then later that night when I-I had to go to my session with Snape h-he used legilimens on me and tried to read the contents of the letter but I stopped him before he could and turned it back on him...and then I saw that Francis had an envelope identical to the ones these letters came in but Snape stopped me before I could see anything else."

Neville paused to observe Sirius who appeared worried.

"Have you told anyone else about this, Neville?"

"No."

"That's not all..." continued Neville. "So the letter said not to go out alone but tonight after my quidditch game I had plans with one of my house mates to go to Hogsmeade...you know and everything was fine until we left. I-I just remember it getting darker and colder out of nowhere and then this hand reached right through me and I got weak. Then hundreds of dementors came flying out of nowhere and just began attacking us and we couldn't fight them off and I-I guess I lost consciousness but then I had some sort of a vision. Th-this cloaked figure came up to me and h-he told me about finding a key and he was getting ready to kill me but then I woke up and the dementors were still coming and I was growing weaker and then out of nowhere Snape conjured up a patronus and took us back to Hogwarts where he took me to the dungeon and began questioning me about the key from my vision. I-I honestly don't know anything about that key but he didn't believe me and he kept asking me where it was and he was threatening me and getting very angry and then I just ran out of there a-and came here."

Sirius' face fell again as he studied the boy carefully.

"Neville...you need to tell Dumbledore about this."

Neville gulped.

"It's just...ever since Francis told me that I'm part of the prophecy my world has been turned upside down and I-I...it's changed me. I'm not the same person..."

Sirius chuckled lightly.

"Of course you're the same person, Neville...the emotions you are experiencing are completely normal."

"They are?"

"Yes, Harry went through the same thing...in fact, he still is. He'll tell you."

"I just...I'm so irritable lately and just about everything sets me off. I hardly ever used to feel angry about anything and now..."

"You're butting heads with those closest to you...biting their heads off for no apparent reason?"

Neville gawked at Sirius, shocked as if he had just read his mind.

"Yeah."

"It's alright. You're going through something right now that they don't understand and that's very frustrating. Especially when it seems as though they've got it easy, not being tainted with this, well, as Harry calls it sometimes, _curse_. You just need to know that your true friends are those who have always been there and will continue to be there. True friends wouldn't abandon you now, Neville. True friends will stand beside you and follow you into the journey."

Neville had to think about this.

Who were his friends?

He sighed.

"I've never really had that many friends...aside from Harry, Hermione and Ron really...but I get the feeling that I annoy them more than anything."

"Only in your own mind. They are all rather fond of you, Neville and I know for a fact that Harry is glad that of all the people he has to share this responsibility with, he's glad it's someone as honest, trustworthy and loyal as you. Are you already forgetting what you and Harry accomplished at the Department of Mysteries?"

Neville blushed.

"I was more trouble than help I'm afraid..."

"I was expecting you'd say something like that," replied Sirius with a sad grin. "And that is not true. You were very brave and who knows what would have happened to Harry if you hadn't been there? After all, you were the only other person still standing."

"I-I just...sometimes I just lay awake at night and wonder _why me_? I'm the last person who should be destined for something like this...it just doesn't make sense to me. I-I was fine with how things were before..."

"It is quite an adjustment Neville and it will take time."

"I asked Harry how he deals with all of this...and he told me that he has you and that you've kept him in check."

"I'm trying my best. His father James was my best friend and I promised him that if anything were to happen to him or Lily that I would raise Harry as my own...but you see, I was in Azkaban for most of his life and he got stuck with horrid muggle relatives and so I'm still making up for lost time. I'm still having to learn about who he is as I go but one thing about Harry is that he carries this belief that he's alone in everything that he does and sometimes he forgets that he has people around him who care and who want to understand what he's going through but sometimes I get the feeling he doesn't want anyone to understand and that isolates him. Sure he's got Ron and Hermione but there are some things that even they can't help him with and when that happens he bottles everything up until eventually it comes to be too much and he just...explodes. He has so much angst inside of him and no where to direct it...he doesn't deal with stress very well but Ron and Hermione help distract him. They help keep his mind in a different place."

Neville bit his lip.

"How are you dealing with all of this, Neville?"

"Not good...I-I...Francis has been the only person I've really talked to about anything but now...after what I saw I-I don't even know if I can trust him. I talk to Ginny a little bit but I don't like talking about it..."

"And why is that?"

"I don't know."

"Talking about things helps...whether you realize it at the time or the following day."

"I guess...I just feel like people think I'm feeling sorry for myself when I'm not. I just...I've never been much of a talker..."

"Your mother never used to be either...until our fifth year," Sirius began thoughtfully. "That is when she really began to bloom."

Neville looked down at his pocket watch. It was twelve-fifteen in the morning.

"Well, I really don't want to keep you any longer..."

"Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?"

Neville was taken aback by the question.

"Like what?"

"I've talked to Francis, Neville and he is very worried."

Neville felt the color drain from his face. Just when he was beginning to get comfortable with Sirius.

"When did you talk to him?"

"A few days ago."

"What did he say?"

"Just that he's worried that you aren't handling this as well as you could be and that you have been losing a lot of weight and are always tired and are becoming distant."

"Oh...this is just a lot for me to have to deal with. I mean...mid-terms are coming and I-I've barely cracked open a book to study, I have no idea how I'm doing in any of my classes, I've got morning sessions with Francis and then nightly sessions with Snape and quidditch and then not knowing whether my family is okay...I am trying to keep on top of everything but I guess I'm not doing such a good job."

"Look, Neville you need to take one thing at a time, alright? For right now you just need to just try and stay focused and keep in mind that things will straighten out and your life will get better. I know it all seems so bleak right now but trust me, if anyone knows I know, things can be worse. Just keep your chin up and look forward, not back." Sirius replied, with a reassuring pat on his back.

"I really appreciate you seeing me."

"You are welcome here anytime. Only I'd prefer if next time you told someone where you were going just to be safe...and also not leaving the grounds so late. It's dangerous."

Neville nodded.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like anything to eat or drink before you go?"

"No thank you."

"Have you been eating properly?"

Neville felt his cheeks begin to burn.

"Yes...why?"

"Just do an old man a favor and let me ask. It's just easy to get so caught up in things that you simply...forget to do simple things, like eat. Harry used to get like that and I'd get after him as well. That boy has quite the nervous stomach...he can't eat when he's under too much pressure."

Neville forced a smile and stood up.

"So about this letter," began Sirius, handing them both back to Neville. "I'm not comfortable with the idea of you going to meet this person alone."

"But the letter says to come alone."

"I don't think it's safe enough to risk it. This could be anyone and considering what happened tonight it could happen again."

"I'll have Francis go with me," lied Neville.

"Alright then..." Sirius walked him to the door and then turned to call Kreacher.

"Kreacher, I'll be back momentarily I'm going to escourt Neville back to Hogwarts."

"Yes sir!"

Neville turned back to Sirius as he guided him out and locked the front door.

"Oh that's really not necessary...I'll be fine."

"Nonsense, I could use the fresh air anyhow."

They apparated and passed through the gates and once they reached the astronomy tower Sirius stopped.

"I'm not going to have to recruit spies to watch and make sure you are actually taking care of yourself am I?"

Neville's cheeks grew warmer.

"Trust me, I've got enough of those here already."

"Alright well you take care and feel free to see me anytime. Might just want to let myself or Harry know in advance so I can meet you here again. Good luck."

"Thanks."

Sirius gave him one last reassuring pat on the back and began walking the opposite direction until he got far enough out to apparate.

"Neville? Is that you?"

Neville looked up at the astronomy tower and saw Ginny's tiny face staring down at him.

He went up and sat down next to her.

"You look nice," she told him.

Another blush.

"Thank you."

"What were you doing with Sirius Black?" She asked.

"What are you doing out here so late?"

"I just came up here to think..."

"Oh, well I just needed someone different to talk to is all."

"I see..." replied Ginny, almost sounding offended that he hadn't come to her.

"How long have you been up here?"

"I don't know."

Neville yawned and Ginny watched him.

"I don't want to keep you. You've had quite a day. Go on to bed."

"No, I'm fine."

Ginny smirked.

"So how was your date with Lavender?"

"It was alright...until we were attacked by dementors."

Ginny gasped.

"Oh my god! Are you alright?!"

"Yeah...just got a little spooked. It's so different when they're actually...right next to you. It was horrible."

Ginny watched him worriedly.

"Snape of all people saved us."

"Wow," replied Ginny. "I'm just glad you are okay...I wonder what they were doing in Hogsmeade..."

Neville knew.

And he could just get it all over with and tell her everything right now but he wanted to wait and leave her with the illusion that he was normal for just a little while longer.

He would tell her the truth eventually, he just didn't know when.

"And it wasn't a date Ginny. We just hung out."

"It sure seemed like a date to me," she teased. "So what did you two do?"

"Well, first we went to Honeydukes to eat, then she shopped and we walked around a bit talking and that was it."

"So...do you like her then?"

"Yeah."

Ginny's face fell but she immediately tried to disguise her disappointment with curiosity.

"Yeah, I've always liked her...I mean she's nice...I just know her a little better now."

"I mean do you _like _her?" Ginny asked again.

"_Oh_," began Neville. "Well...not in that way."

"Well, you might want to make sure _she_ knows that because knowing Lavender she'll decide she's madly in love with you by tomorrow. It might help to save her the trouble after what happened with her and Ron."

"She's just _so_...sensitive. I can already see her bawling and I haven't even told her I don't like her like that yet...I never told her or gave her the impression that I liked her like that! She just...kind of assumed."

"Yeah, girls are good at that."

They sat in silence for the next few minutes, both of them thinking of the night they kissed, both hoping for the other to bring it up.

"Mid-terms are only three weeks away," began Ginny with a sigh.

"Don't remind me."

"Well, look at it this way. After that is Christmas break."

"That's true."

Ginny slowly turned to Neville and waited a few moments before speaking.

"Maybe...sometime you and I could go to Hogsmeade..."

Neville looked up at her with surprise, his eyebrows disappearing into his hair, as if to say, _me_?

Ginny giggled.

"Yeah, I think that'd be a lot of fun...and I can assure you...no dementors would attack you, not while _I'm _there."

Neville smiled and laughed.

There she was being smug again and it never got old or any less cute.

"I'd love that..." he replied softly.

Somehow they'd gone from simply sitting next to each other having a friendly chat, to being close enough to feel each other's breath on their cheeks.

And then, that's when it happened.

They both leaned in and their lips met.

It was much, _much_ better than the first time they'd kissed.

It was more natural and calm and felt even more right.

Ginny pulled away and stared deeply into his eyes.

"That night...that you kissed Hermione up here I was down by the door watching," she laughed softly. "I know that sounds pretty bad but I had just come out because I was going to go up there and think...but then, of course I see a couple up there snogging passionately...and then when it turned out to be you and Hermione..._that's_ when I knew."

"Knew what?"

Ginny closed her eyes and lightly pressed her lips to his again before whispering in his ear.

"_That I wanted to be with you_."

------

**Author's Note: **Yay! Probably my quickest update to date! That's because I'm not back in class yet but once I get back into class things'll get slower. So what do you guys think? It took N and G all this time to finally kiss...so it's definitely happening! :) Anyways, as always. Reviews, feedback are always appreciated! Critiques- anything! I eat it up like coco puffs! I know this chapter was a little shorter than the others but I got a little lazy...but don't worry! Nothing will be left out and I will be sure to leave absolutely nothing unresolved! Anyways, chapter 20 to follow! Thanks to all of you for reading!


	20. New Tribulations

**Chapter 20: New Tribulations**

Neville stared at the disgusting mound of mush and bile that had been his breakfast a mere five minutes ago for just a moment longer before flushing it.

He had been so used to doing this that he had never really ever questioned why exactly he did it or if it was even a normal thing to do for that matter.

By now it was second nature to him, like breathing.

Francis had canceled their session today to tend to _business _so Neville figured that this would be the perfect opportunity to visit the fitness center.

He hadn't been in awhile and he wanted to get a better idea of how he was progressing.

Neville stood up, quickly splashed some water on his face, brushed his teeth and made his way down to the common room where he had left Ginny waiting.

"What in Merlin's name took you so long?" She questioned, staring hard at him.

"Got a bit...distracted. Sorry."

Ginny sighed.

"You're so hard to figure out, you know that right?"

Neville scoffed and gave her a tiny smirk.

"I'm going to the fitness center for a little while. You're welcome to join me."

Ginny frowned.

"But Neville...I thought we were going to go to Hogsmeade?"

"Er...I'm not supposed to be going there."

Ginny put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips.

"That didn't stop you from going with Lavender."

"Yeah and that was stupid of me Ginny. We got attacked and things could have been much worse. I'm not risking it again."

Ginny began to tap her foot on the floor, her eyes shifting toward the ceiling.

"Have you told Lavender that you aren't interested in her?"

"Ginny...she's been in the hospital wing overnight. I haven't gotten the chance to."

"You're right. I'm sorry...it's really none of my business."

"I just- I haven't been taking things seriously enough...those letters warned me-" He stopped suddenly.

Ginny's eyebrows rose.

"What letters?"

"Nothing. Just forget it."

"Fine," she replied sternly.

There was a little bit of awkward tension between them that they had never experienced before and Neville hated it.

"I'm sorry Ginny. I promise...I'll explain all of this to you. It's just kind of hard considering that I'm mostly in the dark myself."

Ginny's lips slowly began to turn up into a grin and she closed the space between them by approaching him.

"Look at us," she began. "Already bickering like a couple."

At this Neville blushed.

"I'm a bit embarrassed to say but I haven't ever been inside the fitness center."

"Oh, it's very nice," answered Neville.

As soon as they arrived Neville was pleasantly surprised to find that it was empty.

"Wow," began Ginny. "This _is _nice. Maybe I'll start coming in here regularly."

"Alright, I'm going to change. You can go change over there."

"OH! A pool! Neville let's swim!"

"Er, well you can but I-I don't swim. Hate water..."

"Come on, Neville! You aren't going to make me swim all alone are you? What if I drown? Who will save me?" Ginny teased.

_'She's already seen you once without a shirt and you don't want to put her through that again!'_

"My Great-Uncle Algie held me over the Blackpool Pier and dropped me in to see if I had any magic in me and I nearly drowned...that experience kind of traumatized me. I-I still have nightmares about it sometimes."

"Oh alright...I'll let you off for now," began Ginny. "But eventually I'll get you to come swimming with me!"

Ginny departed for the girls locker room and Neville quickly changed into a clean pair of work out clothes.

When he came out Ginny was still changing and he decided to go ahead and start without her.

He got on one of the treadmills and started with a slow jog.

He had been so preoccupied that he didn't even notice when Ginny got on beside him.

She was wearing an orange tank top and a pair of green shorts and her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail.

Neville's heart melted at the sight of her. She looked so cute.

"I know...I look like a carrot don't I?" She replied with a defeated sigh.

"N-no. Not at all."

"So tell me, how do I work this thing?" She asked.

"Well, first of all are you wanting to start off slow?"

"I can do the same as you."

Neville put his machine to a complete stop and turned to her.

"Well, the lowest level is pretty simple. Just a warm up really but you won't burn very many calories. The highest level is pretty intense and you can burn up to 500 calories within a half hour."

Ginny's mouth dropped open.

"Oh...I'm not really used to exercising. What do you think would be best?"

Neville started the machine on one of the lower levels and she began to power walk.

"I feel so silly," she began. "I'm just walking and you're running."

"It takes time to get used to Ginny," he replied, slightly out of breath. "And discipline. A year or so ago I wouldn't have even been able to handle the level you're at."

"Do you come in here often?" She questioned.

"Not as often as I should."

"This is kind of nice..." began Ginny. "How do I make it go faster?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Neville turned her machine up and they both stayed on for about another fifteen minutes until Ginny decided she needed to rest.

Ginny staggered a little and Neville led her over to a bench.

"You okay?"

"Whew...I'm exhausted! Oh, I'm all sweaty and disgusting. How on earth do you do this? Look at you...you've hardly broken a sweat!"

"Well, it's good to sweat Ginny. It rids your body of toxins and calories. Just think of all the calories you've burned."

Ginny scoffed.

"Yeah...too bad I'll probably double what I've burned off at lunch. How pathetic. I can't believe I can't even keep up with you!"

Neville forced a tiny smile.

Her comment had stung.

_'She can't keep up with you because she's weak. She isn't strong like we are. She doesn't have the discipline or the commitment. Look at her, huffing and puffing. She's fat just like you...only difference is she'll stay fat and you won't. Just stick with me and I'll make you thin. I'll show you success. I'll bring you happiness.'_

Neville shook his head hard.

No way was Ginny fat and he knew this but the voice in his head seemed to disagree.

Ginny must have noticed that Neville was deep in thought because she quickly retracted her comment.

"Oh...Neville I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that...that came out wrong. I just meant...since you're a guy...and I have six brothers at home..."

"Don't worry about it Ginny. I'm not upset."

------

They worked out for another forty-five minutes until Ginny gave in, practically near collapse.

Both of them retreated to the locker rooms to change.

Neville quickly ran a shower, jumped in and then out. He wrapped himself in a towel and began to dry off.

And there they were. Those dreaded mirrors and that damn scale.

He got up on the scale and slowly began adjusting the weights until it balanced at one hundred and fifty pounds.

Neville's heart sank.

That was simply too much. That number was huge.

He felt his skin begin to burn as the anger within him rose.

His weight should be lower by now.

_'You've been slacking! It's simple, cut out the food! Up the ante on the exercise!'_

Neville wracked his brain trying to figure out what he had or hadn't done to contribute to his lack of progress.

He couldn't completely stop eating because not only would that raise questions but he wouldn't have any energy for his games, but he was still getting rid of what he ate after every meal and visiting the fitness center occasionally when he felt it was called for but apparently it wasn't enough.

He sighed and hung his head in defeat.

Amazing how the day had only just begun and it had already been ruined.

He walked over to the mirror and began to examine himself.

He pinched, squeezed and tugged at every inch of fat he could grab hold of.

He glared at his reflection. He truly hated himself right now.

He was disgusting to look at and he didn't know why Lavender or Ginny would want anything to do with him.

"What are you doing?"

Neville quickly turned around to find that Ginny had poked her head inside.

"Ginny! What are you doing in here? This is the boy's locker room!"

"Duh," she began as she entered all the way. "But it's just us so who cares?"

Neville's cheeks were on fire.

He wrapped the towel tighter around his waist and refused to look at her.

"I'm sorry it's just you were taking forever. What have you been doing in here all this time?"

"I-I took a shower."

"For almost twenty minutes?" Ginny questioned skeptically.

"I'll be out in a minute," he mumbled.

_'The poor girl is in shock. If she really was interested in you then she most certainly isn't now.'_

Ginny nodded and left so he quickly threw his uniform back on and met her in the hallway.

They walked back to the common room in silence.

------

Neville had just gotten out of Advanced Charms and was going to rest for awhile before lunch.

He went up to the dorm and flopped down on his bed.

For the past week or so he had found himself feeling more depressed than usual, numbingly so.

To the point where he was losing track of the days and they just seemed to pass on by without much of his knowledge.

He was so frustrated that the endless amount of questions continued to grow by the day and any hope of finding the answers seemed to quickly dwindle.

Time was running out and his burdens only grew heavier.

Not a single day had gone by where he hadn't thought of his family and tomorrow it would be Saturday, and he would at long last be able to confront the mysterious author of the letters face to face and finally get some answers.

It was definitely a start.

His thoughts quickly turned to the night he and Lavender were attacked.

Why had the dementors come to Hogsmeade? And more importantly who had sent them?

The hair on Neville's neck began to prickle as he realized just how lucky they had been to escape.

Then the image of the dark figure from Neville's vision popped into his head.

He had mentioned something about a key.

Neville wracked his brain trying to remember if there was anything he could pinpoint as to guess the dark figure's identity but there was nothing.

_'A key...what key?'_

Somewhere between the exhaustion from working out earlier and all of his deep thoughts he fell asleep.

He felt himself being gently shaken.

He opened his eyes to see Harry standing over him.

"Have a nice nap?"

Neville, quite groggy, shifted himself up onto his elbows and looked around.

"Wha' time is it?" he mumbled.

"Time for lunch. Sirius wants us to come to another order meeting tonight."

Neville yawned and stretched.

"Are you okay?" asked Harry rather out of the blue.

"Sure, why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know...you just don't seem like yourself lately is all."

"How do you mean?"

Harry sighed.

"It's kind of hard to explain...you just seem...I don't know...vacant lately."

Neville's eyebrows rose and he sat all the way up.

"_Vacant_?"

"I don't mean it in a bad way. I don't know...shouldn't have said anything."

"Oh, well I guess I didn't realize that being told you look vacant could be taken as a good thing."

Harry shifted his gaze back to Neville, watching him warily.

"_What_?" Neville finally asked, failing to hide the irritation in his voice.

Memories of the chubby, clumsy and forgetful boy who lost his toad on the train during their first year flooded Harry's memory. Neville never used to lose his temper or come up with snide, snarky remarks like he had been more recently. He was also a far cry from the scared, somewhat innocent and dim-witted boy who loved to snack between meals and enjoyed the company of his friends, now it seemed he enjoyed neither of those things. He either rarely ate or stuffed himself to the point of exploding, but no matter which it was the fact of the matter remained the same, he wore the same stoic expression at every meal. There was no emotion, no joy, no laughter. He used to speak and laugh more at meals than any other time and now he barely said a word. Also he seemed more content with isolating himself rather than following him, Ron or Hermione around anymore. The boy he had once known was quickly growing into a shell of his former self and while Harry may not have cared or more or less noticed such a significant change in Neville a few years ago he had certainly noticed now and he had been sharing his concerns with both Francis and Sirius.

"Nothing," replied Harry quickly, looking away. "I'll see you later."

And he left without another word.

Neville got up out of bed and decided he wasn't hungry enough to force anything down his throat.

Instead he decided he'd visit the fitness center again.

------

"Neville, pay attention!"

Neville snapped out of his daze and guiltily glanced up at Hermione through his overgrown bangs.

"Sorry..."

Hermione sighed, marked her page and gently closed her book.

They were in the library. Hermione was attempting to help him study for their mid-terms which were coming up rather quickly and she wasn't having much luck.

Neville's mind was simply elsewhere.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked, her expression softening.

"A lot of things."

"Would you care to share? On top of being good at studying, believe it or not I'm also good at other things...like listening."

Neville thought for a moment and wondered if talking to her might help.

"Well...remember that letter I received? The one with the close call with my great-uncle Algie?"

Hermione nodded.

"Well...I-I wasn't being completely honest when I told you that. It turns out he, my great-aunt Enid and my gran were attacked..."

Hermione gasped.

"Oh my gosh! Neville why didn't you tell me?!"

"I-I couldn't...I'm sorry it was just...I still don't know if they're okay. Whoever wrote the letter said that they were safe and in hiding but I won't believe it until I see them myself. I'm supposed to meet whoever wrote the letter tomorrow..."

"Does Dumbledore know?"

"I don't think so."

"You need to tell Dumbledore, Neville."

"I can't..."

"This could be dangerous, Neville."

"I know. I just want to know that my family is alright."

Hermione shook her head.

"Who would want to attack your family?"

"I wish I knew..." replied Neville glumly.

"Is there anything else on your mind?" She gently prodded.

"Actually...yes," he began, lowering his voice to a near whisper.

Hermione's eyes lit up and she leaned in closer.

"B-but you have to promise not to tell anyone..."

She nodded and waited for him to continue.

Neville took a deep breath.

"Alright, well...remember in our fifth year when we were at the Department of Mysteries a-and the Death Eaters were trying to get a hold of that prophecy...the one with Harry's name on it?"

Hermione nodded slowly, her eyes emblazoned on Neville's.

"Well...i-it turns out that I'm involved...apparently I also fit the contents of the prophecy and Francis told me that while V-vo-" Neville stopped, he found he couldn't utter his name. "The Dark Lord marked Harry, h-he knows that there was another boy who fit as well...a-and he didn't know this at the time when he killed Harry's parents. Someone on our side is a t-traitor and informed Voldemort about me..." Neville stopped, failing to mention that that traitor had been his own flesh and blood, suddenly remembering the night his uncle had informed Neville of his betrayal. He continued.

"And now apparently V- the Dark Lord sees me as a threat as well which is why Francis is here...Dumbledore requested him specifically t-to help me with all of this..."

Neville watched as Hermione's face went white and her eyes grew wide.

"Oh, Neville..."

He quickly looked around to make sure no one had heard him.

"No wonder you've been so on edge..." she whispered. "It all makes sense now..."

"This is why Harry and I have been having those extra sessions with Francis and Snape. We're being training to fight..."

"What does Harry think about all of this?"

Neville thought about this for a moment.

"Er, well we really don't talk about it all that much...b-but I imagine he's glad he no longer has to suffer alone. I-I mean I'll never know the full extent of what he's had to go through these past seven years but I understand on some level and I plan to help him in any way I can to..." Neville suddenly trailed off.

Hermione's eyebrows rose and she turned around and followed his gaze.

Lavender Brown had spotted them and was quickly approaching.

She stood at the end of their table, beaming down at Neville.

She flipped her blonde hair and smiled, completely ignoring Hermione.

"Hi Neville."

"H-hi Lavender...er, how are you feeling?"

"I'm wonderful! How about you?"

"Good...listen Lavender...I-I wanted to apologize for what happened on our trip back from Hogsmeade..."

Lavender continued to smile as though he had just complimented her.

Hermione gave Neville a puzzled look and continued to look from him to Lavender.

"What are you talking about Neville?" She asked with a giggle. "What would you need to apologize for? I had a lovely time and was actually coming to ask you if you'd like to do it again."

Neville's eyes widened as he stared hard at her.

"Er...didn't Madame Pomfrey tell you what happened?"

"Oh, why yes...she said that when we were walking back I tripped and bumped my head. She says I'm fine now though."

Neville stared harder at her and wondered why on earth Madame Pomfrey would lie to Lavender about what really happened.

"Uh...y-you don't remember anything about that night?"

She giggled again.

"I remember us having a lovely time."

"Uh, w-well I-I'm glad..." he replied awkwardly.

Hermione stared hard at Neville and raised an eyebrow.

"So what are you two doing?" Lavender asked, finally acknowledging that Hermione had been sitting there the entire time.

"We're studying," replied Hermione sharply. "Mid-terms are coming up."

Lavender frowned slightly and turned back to Neville.

"So...what do you say Neville? Would you like to take me out on another date? Say...tomorrow?"

Neville's heart sank.

Apparently she hadn't realized that it hadn't been a date, at least not to him.

He realized that he had to tell her that he was only interested in being friends but he figured that now wouldn't necessarily be the best time but then again, if he didn't tell her now then he would never find the right time.

He took a deep breath and avoided eye contact with her.

"Listen, Lavender...I-I can't tomorrow I already have plans..."

"Oh," she replied softly. "A date?"

"N-no..."

Lavender's face lit up and she smiled.

"But...I do think that we should just be friends...don't get me wrong, I really like you but i-in a _friendly _way."

There he had said it.

Lavender's face fell and she was already beginning to tear up.

"B-but I thought you liked me..."

"No Lavender, please don't cry-"

"There's someone else isn't there?" She accused, suddenly turning to Hermione with narrowed eyes.

Hermione's face widened with shock and she shook her head.

"I knew it!" Shouted Lavender. "How could you Neville! Why didn't you just tell me you and Hermione were still seeing each other!"

"We're not!"

"Then who is it?" She asked.

"No one..." he said.

"Then what is it? Am I not pretty enough for you or something?!"

Neville sighed.

"No, that's not it at all!"

"I don't believe you!" She shrieked.

By now people were beginning to look in their direction and Neville blushed uncontrollably.

"Lavender," he began softly. "Please, just calm down..."

"Calm down!" She began. "You want me to calm down! You led me on Neville Longbottom! I'll never forgive you!"

Neville sat, completely baffled.

He shot Hermione a pleading look.

By now Lavender was sobbing loudly and speaking unintelligibly through her distress.

Hermione stood up and began to gently pat Lavender's back.

"Why don't we go talk about this somewhere privately? You can tell me all about it."

Neville looked at her as if to say _'thank you' _to which Hermione returned a look as if to say _'you owe me'_.

"Neville, we'll finish studying later, alright?"

He nodded and watched as Lavender, sobbing even louder, allowed Hermione to pull her out of sight.

He leaned back and released his breath.

That had been rather embarrassing but at least his feelings were all out in the open now and he figured Lavender would be over it in a day or so and already be making a move on her next victim.

He closed and gathered up all of his books and made his way out of the library.

Neville realized that despite what had just happened, and the slight guilt that was beginning to set in, he felt lighter- figuratively speaking. Maybe telling Hermione about his involvement with the prophecy had been a good thing. After all, she was the logical one and he was sure that he could trust her not to tell anyone.

He was beginning to feel a little woozy so he stopped for a moment so he could steady himself.

Once he was certain that he wasn't going to pass out in the middle of the corridors- because Merlin knows what he would do if he experienced two embarrassments in a row- he decided to go see if he had received any mail. He hadn't checked in a few days and wanted to see if there was a new letter for him.

When he reached the owlry he stopped himself before entering as a shadow fell over him.

He flattened his back against the wall and slowly peered through the entry to see a tall, thin figure with white blonde hair whose back was turned to him, but Neville didn't need to see the person's face to know that it was Draco Malfoy.

Neville watched as Malfoy stood perfectly still, perfectly poised as usual.

Malfoy suddenly turned and Neville quickly pulled himself away, hoping he hadn't been seen.

Neville held his breath and waited.

He counted to ten and very slowly peered through the entry again, now Malfoy had sat down and in his left hand he held an envelope identical to the ones Neville had been receiving and in his right hand was a letter and he looked as though he had been very disturbed by its contents.

Malfoy allowed the envelope to drop from his hand and it slid across the room, stopping just a few feet from Neville. Malfoy's free hand came up to his forehead and his normally slit eyes slowly began to widen in what seemed to be fear.

Neville wondered if he should walk in as if nothing were the matter and see if he could somehow glance at the handwriting of the letter or use legilimens on him but before he could do either of those things someone had snuck up behind him and offered a greeting.

Neville jumped and turned around to see Ron, sporting a rather cheeky smile.

"So...I just heard about what happened in the library. Lavender doesn't take break ups very well does she?"

"Er, we were never dating...she just assumed."

"Aye, don't you hate that?"

Neville smiled politely and peered inside at Malfoy again, who thankfully had not heard them.

"Hermione's still in the common room trying to console Lavender. You may have just turned her off blokes for life, mate. In which case I reckon you'll be dubbed a real hero..."

Neville laughed which caused the guilt in him to rise.

He hadn't laughed in awhile, it felt good.

"So what are you doing?" Ron asked, wondering why he hadn't gone into the owlry.

Neville jerked his head towards the entry where Malfoy was inside sitting, still entranced with the contents of his letter.

Ron peeked inside and when he saw Malfoy he scowled.

"Oh."

"So, what's going on with you mate?" Neville asked.

"Not a whole lot...although Ginny has been talking about you quite an awful lot lately..."

Neville blushed.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, have you got something going on with my sister?"

"N-no...we're just friends."

Ron suppressed a grin and nodded.

"Uh huh..." he replied, obviously unconvinced.

Neville found that his curiosity could not be contained.

"Er, w-what exactly has she been saying about me?"

"Well, I'll put it this way mate, every sentence practically begins with Neville said this...Neville thinks that...she just seems really smitten with you. And now I've learned more about you from her than I've ever learned from you."

Neville peered in at Malfoy again and then turned back to Ron.

"Like what?"

"Well, stuff about your plants mainly...no offense mate but I block most of it out because a bloke can only take so much, right? I mean...you know from experience from the short time you spent with Lavender...try dealing with that for half a year and see how much you can remember later."

Neville laughed again.

"So just how do you feel about my sister?"

"Er...I-I don't know."

Another lie. Neville knew exactly how he felt about her. He was madly in love with her and had been for the past three years.

"Well, anyways," began Ron. "I'm going to check my mail. Would you care to join me?"

"Sure."

Neville was glad Ron had arrived when he had because he didn't think he'd have gone in alone until Malfoy had left.

The moment they both entered Malfoy jumped, he quickly shoved the letter into his robe pocket and sneered at them.

"Well, well if it isn't the witless wonder and the weasel."

"Stuff it Malfoy," grumbled Ron.

"So Longbottom...I heard about your little run in with the dementors. It's pathetic that professor Snape had to save your sorry ass. If it were me I would have let them had their way with you."

Neville gritted his teeth.

"You weren't there Malfoy, you didn't see what happened."

"Oh, but I'm sure I can guess..." he began cruelly. "The dementors came down and you screamed and ran away until professor Snape arrived. You're pathetic."

Neville clenched his fists and ignored him.

He walked over to his mailbox to find it empty.

Suddenly a chilling thought entered his mind.

What if the letter Malfoy had been reading was actually his?

Ron turned around and stared at Neville with surprise.

"You were attacked by dementors Neville?"

Neville looked at him as if to say _'shut up'_ but Ron hadn't gotten the message.

"Oh, you didn't know Weasel? Apparently he was so scared that he kept passing out. Any seventh year should know by now how to handle a few dementors."

"There were more than just a few, Malfoy," Neville growled.

"_Right_. Oh how proud your mummy and daddy would have been of you. At least you didn't piss yourself."

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Muttered Ron.

"Why aren't you with Scarface, Weasel? Or are you this lug's pet now?"

Neville could feel the rage within him rise and it was about to come out.

"So is the Weasel fighting your battles now, Longbottom?"

"C'mon, Neville...let's go. He's not worth it."

"If I recall correctly," Neville began in a dead whisper that caused the hairs on the back of his neck to prickle. "The last time you ran your mouth I put you in the hospital wing for three days...of course, I'm sure with the mild concussion and the fact that you were unconscious the entire time may have affected your ability to remember."

Suddenly Malfoy's entire face went scarlet and he balled his hands into fists.

"Uh, Neville...I _really_ think we should go..." urged Ron, grabbing Neville by the arm, but Neville did not budge.

"What's the matter, Malfoy? The memory finally coming back to you? It was pretty ugly wasn't it? I don't blame you for not wanting to remember."

Malfoy opened his mouth to speak but couldn't. Instead his eyes filled with fury and he took a step forward.

"You know what, Longbottom..." began Malfoy slowly, his voice full of venom and his eyes narrowed darkly. "I could _kill you _right now...but you want to know the only thing stopping me? I want to be able to watch as Voldemort finishes you off himself...which should be very soon."

Neville stood staring at Malfoy in shock, his entire body sprouted goosebumps all at once.

Ron attempted to pull Neville away once more but he would not budge.

"You're a coward, Malfoy! You aren't going to win."

"It's funny you should say that, Longbottom...because I'd say the score has already been set...starting with your family. Apparently they made for rather easy practice."

Neville's blood suddenly ran cold.

"What do you know about my family?!"

"Well, for starters they aren't very good with their wands, which would explain who _you _take after."

And that was all it took.

Neville lunged for Malfoy, knocking him back into a shelf.

Ron grabbed for Neville and attempted to pull him off.

"NO! Neville, stop!"

Neville landed a punch right in Malfoy's jaw.

"TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW!"

"Haven't you ever heard that there's more fun in waiting?"

Neville punched him again.

"DAMN IT! IF I HEAR THAT MY FAMILY IS HARMED IN ANY WAY...YOU'LL BE THE NEXT PERSON I COME AFTER!"

"Neville, are you mad?! Are you trying to get expelled?"

"Shut up, Ron!" Neville snapped.

"WHO ATTACKED MY FAMILY?! TELL ME!"

Neville punched him again, this time a sickening crack followed, along with his nose splurting blood everywhere.

"Even if I did know do you honestly think I'd tell _you_?!"

Neville reached inside Malfoy's robes and grabbed the letter.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! GIVE THAT BACK!"

Malfoy scrambled out from under Neville and kicked him in the stomach.

Neville fell back and just as Malfoy was about to attack him, Ron placed himself between them.

"Leave him alone, Malfoy!"

Malfoy pushed past Ron and jumped on top of top of Neville, knocking his glasses off and the two began to wrestle for the letter.

Ron attempted to jump in but Malfoy elbowed him hard in the face.

"GIVE IT BACK, LONGBOTTOM!"

Malfoy punched Neville and grabbed for the letter but Neville quickly pulled it away.

Ron jumped back up and put Malfoy in a head lock which gave Neville just enough time to scramble away and grab his glasses so he could look at the letter, which read as follows:

_Draco,_

_Upon your arrival for Christmas break you will face whatever punishment proves suitable for your failure to accomodate to the bidings of our Lord. You have had too many chances to succeed and upon hearing that you have failed in the simple task assigned to you I find that I am filled not only with disappointment, shame and embarrassment but also with the difficult decision to take it upon myself as the Malfoy patriarch to protect your mother and I by following through with whatever our Lord decides to make of you. I can no longer protect you or take responsibility for your faults. I have informed him it is a father's only wish that he have mercy on our only son. I can do no more. _

_Signed, _

_Lucius Malfoy_

Neville read the letter once more and the goosebumps on his skin rose once more.

"Let him go, Ron."

"You sure, mate?"

Ron let go of him and he shoved him and tore the letter out of Neville's hand, his icy, grey eyes burning into Neville's.

"What _task_, Malfoy?"

"_Like I'd tell you_," he spat, his eyes still burning into his.

And without another word Malfoy stormed out of the owlry.

"What in Merlin's name was that all about?!" exclaimed Ron.

Great, now Neville had even more questions without answers and he was glad to be attending another meeting with the order where he could bring up some of his questions and maybe start to get some answers.

------

Neville sat silently, prodding his dinner around with his fork. He hadn't eaten any of it so far.

He was far too preoccupied with what had happened with Malfoy earlier.

He couldn't stop thinking about Malfoy's letter.

No wonder he had looked so disturbed as he read it.

Most slytherins went on to become henchmen and women of Voldemort's but Malfoy was a given, after all his father was a Death Eater and his aunt was Bellatrix Lestrange, so he pretty much never had a chance to be good. His blood was tainted and his destiny set since birth.

Aside from the occasional glare from Lavender, no one else seemed to notice that Neville was there.

Hermione was involved in a heated discussion with Ron and Seamus, Harry was talking to Dean, Parvati was doing her best to distract Lavender from him and Ginny had been absent. In fact, he hadn't seen her since they returned from the fitness center earlier that day.

He sighed and came to realize that he wasn't going to eat anything so that he might as well leave before anyone noticed.

He slowly stood up and exited the great hall.

Neville decided that he would head over to grimmauld place early so he could talk to Sirius more before everyone else showed up.

He quickly made his way out past the school grounds and apparated.

He walked up the steps and knocked on the door.

Within a matter of seconds the door opened and an older man stood on the other side, it took Neville's brain a second to process that it wasn't Sirius but rather his former defense against the dark arts professor Remus Lupin.

"Why hello, Neville. You're a bit early, the meeting doesn't start for another hour."

"I know...I was hoping to talk to Sirius."

"Oh, I'm afraid he's out momentarily. I'm just here visiting because I didn't have anything better to do before the meeting. Anyways, please come in. Is there perhaps anything I could be of assistance with?"

"Thank you," replied Neville stepping inside. "And uh, well...I don't know..."

"Try me," urged the aging werewolf. "Follow me into the study."

They sat down and Neville cleared his throat.

"Well...where do I start..."

"Wherever you feel comfortable with starting. I will just sit and listen."

So Neville started from the very beginning. Everything from his fears and doubts about his involvement with the prophecy, to the letters he had received about his family's attack, and Snape and Francis' visit that he had interrupted and his feeling that they were somehow involved with the letters and his family's whereabouts, to the dementors attacking him leading all the way up until today's run in with Malfoy.

When Neville finished, Remus remained quiet, carefully studying the boy.

"My, that certainly is a lot to deal with, young man. And we're all going to do our best to help you find some answers. That is what we are here for."

"I just...I feel awful for feeling like I can't trust my own uncle...I mean, ever since he told me about how he betrayed my parents and then seeing him with Snape, holding that letter...it just all doesn't make sense. I want to believe his intentions are good but I just can't be sure..."

Remus placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"That's a decision that does not need to be made now, Neville. Everyone's true intentions are revealed eventually, if not sooner than later."

Neville nodded.

"Would you excuse me for just a moment?"

Remus stood up and left and a few moments later returned with a platter of food.

"Would you like some of this? I can't say I'm the best cook but I'm sure it isn't terrible."

"No thank you."

"I suppose you've already had dinner then?"

"Yes, right before I came here."

"I still feel awful eating in front of you. If you change your mind please don't hesitate to help yourself."

"I-I...do you think Dumbledore will know who sent the dementors after me?"

"I'm afraid I'm just as in the dark as you are, Neville."

Neville sighed. Not exactly the answer he had wanted.

"So, how are things going otherwise?"

"Alright I suppose."

"Classes going okay?"

"As good as they can go I guess."

"You'll be alright. Just do the best you can do and the rest will come with ease."

"Professor-"

"Remus," he interrupted kindly.

"S-sorry...Remus, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"D-did you know about the prophecy? That it wasn't just about Harry..."

Remus set his fork down and thought for a moment before answering.

"Yes I did."

"D-did you also already know that my uncle betrayed my parents and nearly got them killed."

Remus studied the boy darkly.

"Yes, we all know."

"I mean, can you blame me for not knowing whether or not I can trust him? If he betrayed his own brother what's stopping him from doing the same to me? I-I...obviously Dumbledore trusts him because he was the one who requested him to return to look after me but then again he also trusts Snape..."

"Albus Dumbledore is a strange man...albeit a very intelligent man. Not a lot of people have the courage to challenge him or his beliefs."

"I do," Neville quickly retorted, but soon came to wish he hadn't said that out loud.

He blushed and the werewolf smiled.

"I'm sure he'd love for you to address any concerns you may have. His door is always open you know."

A few minutes later Sirius entered.

"Why hello Neville."

"Hello."

"You two haven't been talking about me have you?" He teased, sitting down next to his friend, filling a plate of food.

"I'm afraid you caught us," replied Remus, who turned to wink at Neville.

"Neville, help yourself. I'm sure Remus told you he isn't a very good cook but it'll do until the real food arrives."

Remus punched his friend playfully on the arm and they continued to shoot insults back and forth to each other.

Neville grinned but at the same time felt a certain emptiness growing inside of him.

Here they were, good friends after all of these years still acting like school boys.

Neville wished that he could have that kind of a bond with someone.

"Why are you so quiet? What's on your mind?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing really."

Sirius scoffed.

"I may be old, boy but I've not lost my ability to detect lying when I hear it. In fact, I can smell it. Remus can too."

Neville sighed but remained silent.

"Are we going to have to drag it out of you?" Sirius continued.

"I'm worried about my gran...and my great-uncle Algie and my great-aunt Enid."

The werewolf looked over at his friend and they both exchanged guilty looks which Neville happened to catch.

"_What_? Do you two know something?"

They continued to watch each other warily as if telepathically communicating on whether or not it would be wise to share what they knew or didn't know.

"Tell me!"

Neville lept out of his seat so quickly that it caused the two older men to jump as well.

Remus grabbed the boy and gently pushed him back down into his seat.

Neville was furious.

Whenever he learned to trust someone it always seemed that something happened to quickly take away that trust.

He was tired of feeling as though everyone was out to get him!

_'See, the only one you really need is me. You can trust me...I will never let you down...'_

The voice had a point.

_'Can't you see? It's obvious that it's just you and me. You don't need friends when you've got me! Together we can do anything. They wouldn't let you believe that though. Which is why you can't tell anyone about me. They'll try and turn you against me. They'll tell you I'm bad for you...but I'm not. I'm exactly what you need. They aren't your friends, Neville. None of these people are your friends! They all lie to you! I don't lie to you. I always tell you the truth. I'm the only friend you need."_

"I'm suddenly beginning to think that I can't trust anyone...not my family, my friends or anyone in the order..." began Neville in a voice so calm that it made the two older men uneasy.

"Neville, just listen to us. Please...you can trust us," began Remus. "Your family is safe. That's all we know."

"Yeah, and you expect me to trust you?! How long have you known my family is safe?! Why didn't anyone tell me?! It would have saved me a lot of trouble! So basically I've been worried for nothing?! I've been sick for weeks on end not knowing whether or not they were alive or not!"

"We've only just found out, Neville," began Sirius. "We don't know anything else. We don't know where they are but we know they're safe."

Neville couldn't shake the fury and refused to look either of them in the eye.

Both men exchanged sad looks.

It was obvious that something else was bothering the boy and was showing itself in his shifting mood swings.

"We're sorry, Neville."

"Yeah, well so am I for thinking that any of you could help me!"

"We _can_ help you, Neville," began the werewolf pleadingly. "You just have to fight whatever has hold of you and learn to trust us. We're all here to help you. You've got to realize this. You don't have to go through this alone."

"Yeah? Well I'd much rather go through this alone than with people who I don't even know I can trust," he replied coldly.

The two men watched sadly as Neville got up and left.

He went into the dining hall where the meeting was to be held and sat down.

A few minutes later Fred and George Weasley appeared followed by another Weasley whom he hadn't met.

"Oy Neville, how are ya?" asked George.

He, Fred and the other Weasley sat down around him and he was glad they had showed up so they could distract him.

"I've been better," he answered honestly.

"Where's Harry?" asked Fred.

"Dunno."

"Neville, this is our brother Charlie. He's a member of the order too."

"Nice to meet you, Neville," began Charlie, sticking out his hand.

Neville took his hand and was surprised by how firm his grip was.

He was definitely one of the better looking of the lot of Weasley boys. His skin was tan, unlike his siblings, although freckled like theirs and his hair was shaved. He was also very muscular, although shorter than his younger twin brothers. He had various scars and markings on his face and arms but he figured this came with the job. He remembered Ron telling one time that Charlie worked with dragons.

"The others should be arriving shortly," he replied.

"Whatcha been up to, Neville?" asked Fred.

"Nothing really."

"So...we hear you've got a widdle crush on our baby sister," began George.

"Yeah, not that that's a bad thing..." continued Fred. "But take it from us...if you ever happen to see what she looks like after she wakes up in the morning you may change your mind!" he finished, with a wicked grin.

Neville was mortified. How had they known he liked Ginny?!

"Don't mind them..." began Charlie with a chuckle. "Just ignore them like everyone else does."

"Hey! Try telling that to your girlfriend!" barked Fred. "She couldn't take her eyes off me at Bill and Fleur's wedding!"

Charlie rolled his eyes.

Neville felt his lips begin to twitch into a tiny smile.

A few minutes later more members of the order began to file in.

Mad-Eye, Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt all took their seats.

"Hiya, Neville! Good to see you!" exclaimed Tonks.

"Where's Potter?" asked Mad-Eye, his magical eye rolling towards Neville.

"Er, I-I dunno."

A few minutes later Sirius and Remus walked in and seated themselves across from Neville and he made sure not to look in their direction.

Another twenty minutes had gone by and there was still no sign of Harry and the order was still missing several other members including Snape and Francis.

Finally Dumbledore entered closely followed by Harry who sat on the other side of Neville.

Dumbledore glanced at Harry and Neville and then began to speak.

"Hello everyone, thank you for coming tonight. I have called upon this meeting to discuss some very serious occurrences."

Everyone fell silent and all eyes were on him.

"It has been brought to my attention as of last night that the Ministry has been attacked. The attack took place around midnight last night and unfortunately in the battle a few good wizards lost their lives..."

As Dumbledore continued to talk Neville's mind wandered and his body tingled with numbness.

His family had been attacked and other people were already dying and there was nothing he could do about it.

"...Also there have been three other reported attacks in the homes of Ulysses Overboat, Marlon Yesbeck and Leonard Pine, fortunately no one was harmed too seriously in those attacks but the Death Eaters responsible have yet to be caught."

Suddenly Dumbledore turned to Neville.

"And another attack was brought to my attention. Hundreds of dementors attacked Neville and Ms. Lavender Brown on their way home from Hogsmeade a couple of nights ago. I have reason to believe that all of these attacks are connected and were conjured up by a Death Eater known by the name of Agleca Lestrange..."

As soon as the name Lestrange reached his ears the hairs on Neville's neck prickled and he felt the blood drain from his face.

"I am doing what I can to assure the safety of each and everyone here tonight and the members who are not currently with us. Tonight I will be having a meeting with the Minister of Magic and we will be sending out aurors and volunteers alike to track down the Death Eaters and dementors involved in these malicious attacks."

"Albus," began Tonks. "I was told by a source who wishes to remain unnamed that Voldemort was spotted five miles from Wolverhampton and that his army has since tripled. I was going to set off down there tonight to see if I could gather more information."

"Thank you, Nymphadora. I will be keeping track as well of his whereabouts and will be gone for a little while. While I am gone," Dumbledore paused and turned to Harry and Neville. "I want you boys to stay close and check in with Sirius nightly. You will write to him with this enchanted pad, you will both have to make up code names because what you write can be accessed by others with the use of advanced telepathic magic and you will both have to stay within Hogwarts until otherwise notified by myself. Kingsley, do you have anything to add?"

Neville's heart sank.

Tomorrow he was supposed to go to Hogsmeade to meet with the mysterious author of his letters.

He had waited far too long to not go and meet this person, they knew of his family's whereabouts and he wasn't about to let anything stop him now, not even Dumbledore.

"Albus, Neville has informed me about something involving Draco Malfoy that I believe should be brought to your attention," began Remus.

Neville's head snapped up and Dumbledore watched him calmly, his bright eyes twinkling.

"Go on, Neville," replied the old wizard softly.

So Neville told Dumbledore about how he had witnessed Malfoy in the owlry with what he assumed was his letter and how he threatened that he could kill him right then and then he told about the contents of the letter.

"I always knew that boy was a bad seed...look at 'es good fer nothin' father...if I could get my hands on that son of'uva-"

"Now Alastor..." began Dumbledore firmly. "Draco Malfoy is in serious trouble and Severus is with the boy now."

"What kind of trouble?" asked Harry.

"No worse than the danger that you and Neville are facing."

Neville couldn't control himself any longer.

"Malfoy is an evil right prat and he told me he could kill me right then and there but that he wanted to wait and watch Voldemort do it! Which he said should be soon! It's obvious that he's working for him! With a father as nasty and evil as he's got I wouldn't be surprised if he's in on all of this! He basically told me that he knew that my family was attacked and I bet he knows who did it! He needs to be thrown in Azkaban right along with his father!"

"Neville," began Dumbledore calmly. "Draco Malfoy is not as evil as he may seem..."

"RIGHT! Like I'm going to believe that! As far as I'm concerned he's already a murderer! Anything his father's done is on his hands and what's to stop him from going down the same path?! I believe he would have killed me on several different occasions had someone not intervened!"

The members of the order all gazed at Neville with surprise at his outburst.

"I'm with Neville on this," added Harry. "Malfoy is just as evil as anyone else working with Voldemort. We need to keep an eye on him."

"The boy may be rotten and spoiled but I don't think he is evil enough to follow through with what he says he will...after all, if the letter said he is to be punished by Voldemort himself then it's obvious whatever he was supposed to do was very important and something even more important kept him from doing it," began Tonks.

Suddenly Francis entered and took the closest empty seat available.

"Ah, Francis, how lovely of you to join us," replied Dumbledore.

"Sorry I'm late everyone. I had paper work begging to be finished."

Dumbledore went over what had already been discussed and Neville glanced at Francis and noticed that not only was his hair grayer and his face more aged and tired but also that he was wearing a ring. The same ring that he had dropped during one of their visits and suspiciously avoided mentioning.

It was hard to miss, even from as far away as Neville sat.

It was gold with a large black pearl.

"I just got word from Severus that there was a strange occurrence that just took place at Malfoy Manor. He claims that three Death Eaters were killed. He is on his way over there now to find out what happened. He believes the three Death Eaters killed were somehow tied in with the attacks at the Ministry and within the homes of Overboat, Yesbeck and Pine."

"Very good. Thank you, Francis. I will be sure to accompany Severus upon his return."

"The attacks are becoming more frequent which is only a warning. Voldemort wants to alert us that he is expanding his army and waiting for the right moment to attack so we must all be prepared at any moment's notice. Unless there is anything else anyone needs to add then that will adjourn tonight's meeting."

Everyone stood up and began to chat with one another briefly before slowly filtering out.

Neville remained seated, lost in his thoughts.

He still felt as if he had more questions than answers and it was beginning to take its toll on him.

"Hello Neville."

He looked up to see that Francis had taken a seat next to him.

"Hello."

"It seems other than our sessions we haven't had the chance to catch up in awhile."

Neville's eyes kept shifting from his uncle's face to his ring.

Somehow it had looked familiar but he simply couldn't place it.

"I just want you to know...my door is always open and I hope that someday when all of this gets sorted out we can have some form of a relationship. I'm sorry for all I've put you through and I want to do whatever I can to help ease some of the pressure."

"Thank you."

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow morning then as scheduled."

Francis stood up, placed a hand gently on his nephew's shoulder and then left.

"Neville, what are you still doing here?"

Neville had been so caught up in his thoughts that he failed to realize he had been the only one left in the room.

Sirius approached him slowly and sat down.

"S-sorry I guess I-I just...got distracted."

"It's quite alright."

Neville stood up but as soon as he did his knees buckled from underneath of him and he plummeted to the floor.

"Dear Merlin!"

Neville's vision suddenly went white.

"Are you alright?"

Neville felt a pair of strong hands pull him up and hold him steady.

He shook his head until he could see again, Sirius' face was sketched with worry and concern.

"What happened?"

"I don't know...I guess I've just been sitting for too long...legs must have feel asleep."

Sirius stared skeptically but didn't say anything.

"Have you been getting enough sleep?"

"Yeah, no more or less than usual?"

"How about to eat?"

"Same."

"Well, we've got to keep you in good health otherwise you won't be able to fight."

"I know, I know," he replied.

"I'll walk you back to Hogwarts."

They remained silent as they left grimmauld place and apparated.

When they reached Hogwarts grounds Neville told Sirius he'd be fine the rest of the way but he insisted on going with him.

When they reached the astronomy tower Sirius spoke.

"Listen Neville, Harry's very worried about you. He's been talking to me."

"Oh Really? About what?"

"He thinks you've changed."

"Well, he's being ridiculous. I haven't changed a bit."

Sirius could sense the boy was lying and even for as little as he knew the boy the boy he had remembered at the department of mysteries would have never allowed an outburst to come out of him like he did tonight at the meeting and he never would have spoken to adults in such a tone or matter as he did with himself and Remus before the meeting. The boy he witnessed two years ago had seemed so innocent and much happier. He observed that the boy had always held a rather large amount of sadness in his eyes but now they just seemed to hold emptiness. It was as if he were under the effects of a polyjuice potion and someone or something else was simply impersonating him.

Sirius smiled at the boy sadly.

"Good night, Neville."

As soon as Sirius disappeared Neville couldn't think about anything else other than collapsing into his bed.

It had been such a long day and he had an even longer one tomorrow.

Once he reached the common room Ginny sprang up from the couch.

"I've been waiting for you."

"Where have you been all day?" he asked her.

"Around," she replied grinning widely. "So Ron told me about what happened in the library earlier. I'm so glad you finally told Lavender how you really feel!"

"Yeah, it wasn't easy...I reckon she's got a death wish out for me now. Oh well, she wouldn't be the first."

Ginny giggled.

If only she had known he meant that literally.

"You must be tired," she replied.

"I am."

"Well, I won't keep you up any longer then."

"No, it's fine."

He wasn't going to let his tiredness keep him from talking to Ginny. He still had it in his mind that any time he got with Ginny was borrowed time even though for the past few months she had been willingly spending more time with him.

"I had the most relaxing bath in the prefects washroom this afternoon."

Neville's heart dropped.

"Yeah? I-it is rather nice...I've been in there a few times...only Myrtle is always bugging me."

He waited.

"Oh, she's not so bad," began Ginny. "She probably just has a little crush on you."

Neville forced a small laugh.

"So, uh...did she bother you at all?"

"She's just lonely, Neville. We talked and she's actually quite sweet...and funny."

"What did you two talk about?"

"My aren't you the nosy one?" Ginny teased. "If you _must_ know we talked about girl stuff mainly."

"Oh," replied Neville sheepishly. "Errr, she didn't happen to mention anything about me did she?"

Ginny raised an eyebrow and observed him carefully.

"Why? Does she know something about you that I don't?" She teased.

"N-no...just curious is all."

"Well, in that case no, she didn't."

Neville's heart gave out a little sigh of relief.

"Actually...now that I think about it, she did say something."

Neville's heart's relief was short lived as it quickly began to hammer against his chest.

"I can't seem to remember what she said though...I'm sure it'll come to me tomorrow. Good night, Neville."

------

**Author's Note: **Wow, I can't believe this is the 20th chapter! There is still so much more to come! Hopefully chapter 21 will be up within a couple of weeks at most if not sooner, although I won't make any promises. So there's a lot going on in this chapter but the good news is that at long last Neville is finally going to meet "X" the author of the letters and learn of his family's whereabouts in the next chapter! So that's one thing that will be answered. Also, I promise that everything will be resolved. Nothing will be left unresolved! Anything in this story that seems to have been forgotten, i.e. Frank's diary, I assure you has not been forgotten but rather 'neglected' but only temporarily. We will be seeing more of Frank's diary in future chapters as it will play a significant role in the story as it continues. So be sure to keep an eye out for these things! Anyways, as always thanks so much for reading! You guys are great. Please be sure to leave a review! Your reviews are like gold to me! It motivates me! :)


	21. Stimulation

**Chapter 21: **Stimulation

_Neville found himself walking alone down Knockturn alley in the middle of the night when someone grabbed him from behind._

_"Ah, we meet again young Longbottom."_

_Neville slowly turned around and found that he was once again face to face with the mysterious, hooded stranger._

_"Give me the key," he hissed, outstretching his pale, skeletal hand._

_"What key?! I don't know what you're talking about!"_

_"I will not play games, boy. Now either you hand over the key or there will be hell to pay."_

_"I don't know of any key!"_

_The dark, hooded stranger took a step back._

_"Very well," he began darkly as he turned away from Neville and snapped his fingers._

_Out of nowhere his gran, great-uncle Algie and great-aunt Enid appeared before him, they looked battered, weak and pale, their eyes sunken in and their clothes torn._

_Neville gasped and ran to them but the hooded figure held out his arm and caught Neville._

_"Oh gran! Algie, Enid! I'm so sorry! What has he done to you?!"_

_His family stared up at him with lifeless eyes._

_"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THEM?!"_

_"Hand over the key or you will see for yourself."_

_"YOU BASTARD! LEAVE THEM OUT OF THIS! IT'S ME YOU WANT!"_

_The hooded figure raised his wand and lazily flicked it towards the three elder Longbottoms huddled on the cobblestone street and they all immediately began to writhe about and scream in agony._

_"STOP IT!" screamed Neville._

_"The key, Longbottom," he drew out slowly. "Otherwise I shall finish them off."_

_Neville shot off every spell, charm and curse he could think of to fend the man off but nothing worked._

_The hooded figured laughed coldly and shook his head._

_"Silly boy, haven't you figured it out yet? None of that will work on me."_

_Neville released himself from the man's grip and ran to his ailing familiy._

_The hooded figure slowly lowered his wand and began to pace around them._

_"If you were smart boy, you would do as you are told."_

_Neville looked up, just as the hooded figure was about to raise his wand once more._

_"Say good-bye to your family."_

_"NOOOOOOOOOO!"_

Neville shot up out of bed and observed his surroundings in a panic.

He was at Hogwarts in his bed.

He wiped the sweat off his brow and discovered that his whole body was drenched.

The hooded figure in his nightmare had been the same figure in his vision the night he and Lavender were attacked.

Who was this person?

Neville knew he must be of some importance if he had come to him twice in his subconscious mind.

"Lumos," he whispered, as he glanced down at his pocket watch.

It was five in the morning and he didn't want to wake his house mates.

He slowly crept out of his bed, grabbed his uniform and decided to go to the prefect's washroom for a bath.

When he entered there were no signs of Moaning Myrtle _yet_.

He turned the knobs and the tub began to fill up, with bubbles already threatening to spill over the edge.

Neville tore off his soaked pajamas and slipped into the warm tub.

Today was going to be a big day for him.

Today was the day that he would finally meet the author of the mysterious letters he had been receiving face to face.

He leaned his head back against the side of the tub, removed his glasses and closed his eyes.

His muscles ached, his head was throbbing and he felt physically drained.

Neville knew he'd have to find a way to gain some strength, otherwise he'd be as useless as his father's broken wand.

He allowed for his entire head to slip under the water but as he went under he opened his eyes and saw someone staring at him, smiling.

Neville jumped back up and screamed.

Of course, it was none other than Myrtle.

She emerged from the water and floated above him, with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Myrtle, don't _do _that!"

"I didn't mean to frighten you," she pouted, "I figured you'd be visiting me soon."

After Neville got over the initial shock of nearly being scared to death he began to relax again.

"So..." began Myrtle, whirling around the tub in circles. "There was a pretty, red haired girl in here yesterday and she says she knows you."

"Oh, you mean Ginny."

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"N-no. We're just friends."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why isn't she your girlfriend?" replied Myrtle, lowering her voice.

"I- don't know," answered Neville.

"She seems to like you a lot. We talked about you you know."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"So come on then...you can't just tell me that and expect me to not ask what was said about me."

"I told her that you come in here a lot more than anyone else and that you're good company."

"Er, is that all?"

"Yes she did most of the talking about you. She had a lot to say."

"What did she say about me?"

"Just the usual malarky that girls gush about. She talked about how cute you are and how she wishes you would ask her out, stuff like that."

Neville felt his skin scorch even more under the warmth of his blushing.

"You look skinnier every time I see you you know," began Myrtle, observing him with squinted eyes. "I reckon if you continue to shrink there won't be anything left of you the next time I see you. Which is a shame, you have so much potential."

"I think you uh, need to get your glasses checked," he muttered.

"Why are you always so negative?" she asked. "You always seem so miserable. You can't possibly lead as pathetic and lonely an existence as I once did?"

Neville stopped to think and realized he couldn't answer her question. He knew nothing about her.

"I never got any joy out of life," she began sadly. "I was born to two muggle parents who ignored me and shipped me off to boarding school where the other girls played cruel tricks on me. Esther Hart was the meanest, one time she tucked the back of my skirt into my knickers and I walked around like that all day before I even noticed and everyone laughed at me. Do you know what it's like to be the butt of everyone's jokes?"

Myrtle began to tear up and Neville's heart sank.

He did know how that felt, he had been the butt of many people's jokes and the target of many slytherin tormentors when he was younger.

"The closest I ever came to having a real friend was when I was nine, Ramona Crabtree told me one day after lessons that she wanted to be my friend. We walked to our lessons together, spent our meal times together and I told her everything and she listened, until one day she told me to meet her outside by the lake, she told me she had invited some boys from around the area and that we were all going to jump in stark naked. So I went to the lake and waited and she came over to me and said that the boys would be coming in a little bit but that she had to show them where to come meet us. So she told me to wait there for them and to take everything off. A few moments later she came back, fully clothed and she shined a flashlight on me and then the laughter started. She had summoned all the girls from our grade and they all pointed and laughed. Then they stole my clothes and ran back inside. There were no boys I should have known that. She pretended to be my friend for an entire week to gain my trust when all she wanted was to humiliate me like everyone else."

Myrtle sighed through her sobs and peeked at Neville through her fingers.

"Myrtle, I-I'm so sorry that happened to you. I don't know what to say..."

"Then of course I got my letter from Hogwarts informing me that I was a witch. I was so happy and thought that things would be different now that I was _special_ but things were just as bad here. They were all horrible to me, they called me every name in the book and all told me how much they hated me and how they wished me dead, and then one day they got their wish. I was in one of the stalls in the girl's washroom crying because Olive Hornby made fun of my glasses and that's when I heard his voice, a boy in the girl's washroom. Of course I opened the stall door to see who it could be and yelled at him to go away and the last thing I saw was a pair of large yellow eyes. Olive had quite a fright when she discovered my body," replied Myrtle, with a hint of satisfaction in her voice. "I followed her everywhere she went, haunting her until she couldn't take it anymore."

She sighed.

"No one cared about me while I was alive and no one cares about me now."

"That's not true Myrtle."

"Oh yeah?" she countered. "How would you know?"

"I-I care..." began Neville truthfully. "In fact, I came in here just to see you."

Suddenly Myrtle's face brightened and her eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Really?"

"Yes, I-I was hoping that you could help me with something."

"You want _my_ help?" Myrtle questioned with disbelief.

"Yes. Now this may sound silly, so please bare with me. I've been having these visions of a tall hooded man, in a black cloak. I've yet to see his face b-but both times he mentioned something about a key and I'm just trying to figure out what he would want with a key and why he thinks I have it because I don't."

Myrtle's face softened as she thought.

"Did he describe the key?"

"No."

"That's strange...I'm sorry. I don't think I can help you."

"It's alright. I think I'm going to have to speak to professor Dumbledore about this."

Neville finished washing up, thanked Myrtle for listening and promised to come visit her again soon.

Of course she whined and cried and begged him not to leave but he had been in the tub for almost an hour and his skin was becoming wrinklier than a prune.

"I promise I'll visit again," he shouted back to her as he ran out..

He looked down at his pocket watch.

It was now almost six and the others would be waking up shortly to get ready for breakfast.

Neville decided he'd go and pay Dumbledore a much belated visit.

As soon as he reached the Headmaster's office his stomach began to turn and he wondered if he would be able to do this.

He approached the door and was contemplating knocking, he was beginning to feel dizzy and turned to walk away when the door opened.

Neville quickly turned around and his eyes immediately connected with a pair of twinkling blue ones.

"I've been expecting you."

"You have?"

"Please, come in."

Neville entered and Dumbledore closed the door behind them.

"Have a seat."

Neville sat down and chills ran up his spine.

_'How did he know I was coming?'_

"So Mr. Longbottom, how are you this moring?"

"I'm alright."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled and he watched Neville through his half-moon spectacles.

"I believe there is something you'd like to bring to my attention?"

"H-how did you know?"

"Just a feeling," he replied, his blue eyes still twinkling mysteriously.

"W-well there are a couple of things," began Neville slowly, careful about what he was to say. "F-first of all d-do you know who sent the dementors after me at Hogsmeade? W-why were they after me? What did they want?"

Dumbledore watched the boy closely before answering.

"They were sent by Death Eaters Neville, and they weren't after you, not yet."

"Then who were they after?"

"The question my boy, is _what_ were they after."

"Professor...did you know about my family's attack?"

Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes. They were attacked by Death Eaters. I believe there were around twenty of them."

Neville's stomach dropped.

Twenty Death Eaters against his three family members.

"D-do you know their whereabouts sir?"

"Unfortunately I do not. I only know that they are safe."

Neville was about to mention the letters he'd been receiving but decided not to since he'd been told specifically by Dumbledore himself that he and Harry were not to leave school grounds under any circumstance unless he said otherwise.

"Sir, there's a couple of more things..."

"Go on."

"During a few of my sessions with professor Snape, h-he'd been acting rather peculiar."

At this Dumbledore's eyes flashed momentarily.

"Oh?"

"Yes sir, um h-he was demonstrating legillimens and occlumency a-and he entered my mind. I-I think he was trying to find something, a certain memory and so when I countered back and entered his mind...I-I saw something and he flew off the handle."

"What did you see?"

"I saw him with my uncle Francis...they were talking about something and they had a letter. It didn't look right a-and I'm sure you know...both of their pasts have been sketchy so I-I just haven't been sure if I can trust either of them. It just didn't seem right what I saw."

"I see," replied Dumbledore softly.

"I-I may just be being paranoid, I don't know."

"Neville, I assure you if I had any reason not to trust either of them that I would not have enlisted them to become members of the order. The order is only open to the most trustworthy and loyal wizards and witches. Not all bad seeds end up turning into bad fruit."

His eyes continued to twinkle.

"I understand how hard this must be on you Mr. Longbottom. Harry has had seven years to prepare for this whereas you unfortunately have not had the same circumstance."

"Professor, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Why didn't anyone tell me that I was involved with the prophecy? Why the wait? Francis told me that you forbade my gran from telling me. What could have possibly made you think it would benefit me by not informing me about this?"

Dumbledore smiled at the young boy seated before him.

"Mr. Longbottom, there are reasons for revealing things and reasons for not, and the reason for not revealing this to you sooner was because I didn't see it necessary to trouble you with hearsay. Because at the time of your birth that's all it was...until your fifth year when the battle at the department of mysteries occurred. The Death Eaters wanted the prophecy to hear it in it's entirety because it had been recalled that someone years ago had known there was possibility of another boy being mentioned aside from Harry and once that reached Voldemort he had to know who that other boy was. Now that you are older and in your final year here and that it has been discovered that Voldemort is aware of your existance and your tie in with the prophecy you as well are becoming a threat to him and his sole purpose is to destroy you before you even have a chance to fight."

At those last words the hairs on Neville's neck began to prickle.

"S-so do you know why he sent Death Eaters after my family? What did he want with them?"

"He sent Death Eaters after them for the same reason he sent them after your parents..." began Dumbledore, his smile fading but his eyes still twinkling. "They hold the key to Voldemort's plans for the fate of our wizarding world."

Neville gasped.

Could Dumbledore possibly mean the same key that the hooded figure had been mentioning in his visions?

"The key...professor! The night I was attacked I-I fainted and I had a vision of a man in dark robes, his face was hidden by a hood and he demanded that I give him a key...and just a little bit ago I awoke from a nightmare and he was in it! He kept talking about that same key. Do you know who this man could possibly be?"

"_I do_," replied Dumbledore, his voice so low that Neville almost had to lean forward and turn his ear to hear him. "That man...is almost as dangerous and merciless as Voldemort himself. His name is Althalos Bloodworth and he is by far the most deadly Death Eater known to the wizarding world."

"B-but how do you know that's who it is? I-I never saw his face. I-I had no way of identifying him."

"Ask Francis," answered Dumbledore simply. "And he will tell you."

Neville's head was spinning.

"What do these visions mean and how did they come to me?"

"This I do not know, Mr. Longbottom. But I imagine they are of utmost importance and that whereever these visions are coming from it is to help guide you."

"D-do you know about this key he was referring to? H-he kept saying I have it and I don't know of any key!"

"It was in your family's possession. Your parents were elected to guard the key and keep it hidden, Death Eaters were sent after them to retrieve the key but they never found it and it's whereabouts are currently unknown. Voldemort already has hundreds of Death Eaters searching for it, which is why your family was attacked, they were believed to have had the key last."

"W-what is the purpose of the key?" Neville asked slowly. "And why does Voldemort want it so badly?"

But before Dumbledore could answer there was a soft knock on his door.

"Please excuse me for just a moment."

Dumbledore got up and opened the door, it was Snape.

Neville tried to listen but couldn't hear what they were saying because they were whispering.

A few moments later Dumbledore returned to his desk to grab his wand.

"I do apologize Neville but I'm afraid we are going to have to continue this later. Severus has just brought to my attention that there were two more attacks today and we must go out on official order business. I should be back sometime later tonight if you'd like to visit me then."

Dumbledore walked Neville out of his office and then he and Snape apparated.

------

Neville quickly ran up to the dorm where the other boys were scampering about getting ready for breakfast.

"Oy mate, where you been?" asked Seamus.

"Uh, I woke up early so I went for a bath in the prefect's washroom."

"Say, has anyone seen my socks?" asked Ron, pulling all of the sheets off his bed as he looked.

"Have you checked to make sure they haven't thrown themselves out the window?" cracked Seamus.

The other boys snickered.

"You could try washing 'em you know," continued Seamus.

"Aw, shut it!" replied Ron, his face had turned as red as his hair.

"Honestly though who misplaces socks?" replied Dead curiously.

"So Neville, how goes it?"

He looked up to see that Harry had been ignoring the other boys.

"Fine I suppose."

"That's good."

Neville had the sudden urge to tell Harry about his visions of the hooded Death Eater Althalos Bloodworth but didn't want the other boys to be present when he did.

"Sorry if I've seemed a bit out of it lately," he began guiltily. "I'm just stressed. We all are."

"It's alright," answered Harry. "I know what you're going through."

"What who's going through?" asked Ron suddenly, turning to the them.

"Er, nothing Ron," replied Harry quickly.

"Right, well I can see when I'm not being included," he replied sullenly.

"We can talk later if you want," mumbled Harry to Neville.

Neville nodded and watched as Seamus and Dean left.

"You two coming?" beckoned Ron, as he turned around to wait for Neville and Harry.

"No. You both go on ahead I think I'm just going to skip breakfast today. I'm not that hungry."

Ron's eyebrows inched slowly up his forehead.

"Don't you ever eat anymore?" he asked.

"I just don't have much of an appetite. Too much going on."

"_More like no appetite_," muttered Ron under his breath, thinking that Neville couldn't hear. "You coming Harry?"

"Yeah, see you in a bit Neville."

"See you."

Neville had heard Ron and he wished he would have said something but he held it back.

It was none of Ron's business and he should just worry about himself.

As soon as they were gone Neville grabbed his father's journal and opened it up.

He had been reading a few pages from it when he could but hadn't in a few days.

Nothing really interesting ever seemed to come up.

His father's entries also would sometimes be months apart.

He flipped to where he left off and it read as follows:

_November 25th, 1971_

_Something strange happened today. I can't really explain it but today at Hogsmeade I got lost and ended up finding a tent. There was a fortune teller inside and she knew who I was! She told me that my future was going to be filled with tragedy and betrayal and that I would bare a son whose power could overthrow the Dark Lord._

Neville got goosebumps as he read.

_I found my way back and got Francis so I could show him what I'd found but when we returned to the site the tent and the old fortune telling witch was gone. Francis thinks I've gone mad but I know what I saw! I spoke to her, she knew my name! I haven't told anyone else about her because I don't think they will believe me._

Neville turned to the next page.

_December 3rd, 1971_

_Francis is really making me mad. He's just jealous because I have more friends than he does and because slytherin is kicking gryffindor's arse in house points! I really hate him sometimes. I wish I were an only child, life would be so much better if he hadn't been born. Mum sent me a howler today because my grades are slipping, I hate her sometimes too. She's always yelling at me and telling me that I need to be more responsible and take my education seriously. Dad doesn't ever yell at me but that's because he's too busy working. _

Neville continued to read the next three journal entries and he was about to stop until he read this:

_February 17th, 1972_

_Me and Francis were pulled out of classes because mum and dad have been attacked. Professor Dumbledore took us into his office and assured us that they were alright but we thought they were dead! Professor Dumbledore says that mum and dad are really big targets for the Death Eaters because they know something that they shouldn't. I don't have the slightest clue what that could be and Professor Dumbledore wouldn't tell us anymore. I don't want mum and dad to be in any danger. Professor Dumbledore told us that they wish us well and send their love and that we can't visit them because it's too dangerous. I have a really bad feeling that something is about to happen. Everywhere I go I have a sense that evil is following me. I hope the Dark Lord doesn't kill mum and dad. I wish I knew more. I wish the adults thought I was old enough to understand._

"Oy mate, why aren't you at breakfast?"

Neville jumped and quickly closed the journal and set it aside.

"Oh hello Dean. I wasn't feeling hungry so I'm just...hanging out here."

"I see..." replied Dean. "You going to be ready for our game tomorrow?"

"Yes. I'm excited for it."

"Good. Glad to hear that...so listen I've been meaning to talk to you about something."

"What's that?" replied Neville curiously, wondering what on earth it could be.

Dean hesitated for a moment before walking further into the room until he was standing beside Neville's bed.

"Well, I hope this isn't awkward or anything but I...and you don't have to but I was wondering if you could possibly talk to Ginny for me?"

Neville's heart sank as Dean continued.

"Ever since we broke up we haven't really been talking much and seeing how she's always with you I was hoping maybe you would put in a few good words for me and pass on that I miss her and think about her _a lot_...I was being so stupid most of the time and I didn't pay enough attention to her and I'm sorry. I just wish we could work this all out, put it behind us and move on. I want to be with her."

Neville tried his best to hide any disappointment and managed a small smile.

"Of course I'll talk to her."

"Oh, thanks mate! You're the best!"

"Don't mention it."

"So what else is going on then?" Dean asked.

"Nothing really...same old routine."

"Right, well I just came up here to get my wand. I was in such a rush that I forgot it. Anyways I'm going to head back down to breakfast."

"Okay," replied Neville, failing to hide the defeat in his voice.

"See you later."

"See you."

------

It was mid afternoon, lunch had just ended and Neville stuffed himself until he could barely move and was still kicking himself for it.

He had been doing so well but the temptation of all the food was just too much and his stomach had been growling so loudly that others around him could hear it.

He flushed the toilet and rose with a big stretch.

He went to the sink, splashed his face with cold water, brushed his teeth and put his glasses back on so he could examine himself.

His face was puffy and beet red, his eyes blood shot and his nose was red and had been running profusely.

Neville looked a mess.

_'You look awful. You are still much too fat! If only you could have seen yourself gorging at lunch, it was disgusting and everyone was staring! Have you no self-control?'_

Neville opened up the door, the only other person in the dorm had been Ron when he went in and he was still there, sitting on his bed, looking at a letter his mother had sent him.

Ron looked up as Neville walked out of the washroom.

"You alright there, mate?"

"Yeah, some of my lunch didn't seem to agree with me..." he mumbled with a grimace.

"I'll say," began Ron. "You were in there an awful long time."

"I-I think it was the potato salad."

"I ate two platefuls and I'm fine," replied Ron.

"Oh, well that's good."

"So listen, Harry's been acting weird lately and he won't really talk to anyone about it, not even Hermione, and you know how she gets..."

Neville did know how she got but luckily for him she had been so preoccupied with studying for their mid-terms and her blossoming relationship with Ron that she hadn't nagged him about his eating habits in awhile but he was sure she would start up again soon, unfortunately.

"So yeah, she's really worried about him. He's sort of clammed up and distant lately. You have any idea about what might be bothering him?"

"No, haven't the slightest," replied Neville honestly.

"Well, keep your eyes and ears open," replied Ron. "Let either me or Hermione know if you find out anything."

"Will do," replied Neville.

"So what's the deal with you and Ginny? Are you two dating?"

Neville blushed.

"No...we're just friends; besides, Dean came up here earlier and told me he wants to get back together with her."

Ron looked deep in thought for a moment before he spoke.

"Well, he's my mate and everything but I don't want him dating Ginny again."

Neville was surprised.

Normally it wasn't like Ron to make such a bold comment.

"Why?"

"Oh you saw how much they fought and how often Ginny would run off somewhere crying. I just don't think they were meant to be together."

"Hmmm," replied Neville.

"Why don't you ask her out?"

"_Me_?" replied Neville. "Oh, Ron...no I-I just think we should be friends...I don't really-"

"Well you _like_ her don't you?"

"Yeah, of course I do."

"I _mean_ do you have feelings for her?"

Neville blushed again and thought for a moment.

Obviously he knew he did but he felt just a tad uncomfortable discussing his feelings about Ginny in front of her brother.

"Yes," he finally mumbled.

"Well alright then so what are you waiting for?"

"I don't know..."

"I've experienced first hand what waiting can do..." replied Ron awkwardly, as Neville quickly looked away.

"Yeah, sorry bout that..." he mumbled. "I-It was Hermione's idea...I hope it didn't upset you too much."

Ron chuckled.

"No, you both got me good. I honestly thought you and Hermione were dating, hell everyone did!"

Neville began walking towards the door but stopped as Ron continued.

"I think you'd be good for my sister," he began. "You're a nice guy and she deserves someone who's going to treat her right and I know you would."

Neville froze and stared at Ron dumbfounded.

He and Ron had never really been very close but he was closer to him and Harry than to Dean and Seamus and Neville realized that that was probably the nicest thing that had been said to him in awhile, and the fact that it came from Ron surprised him.

Neville smiled.

"See you later."

"Bye."

He decided to go to the greenhouse when he was stopped by his uncle.

"Hello Neville."

"Hi."

"How are you?"

"Fine."

"Good...I just wanted to see if you'd like to join me for dinner tonight? You know, like we used to?"

Neville was about to accept his offer until he remembered that tonight he was supposed to meet up with X at Honeydukes.

"I'd love to but unfortunately I have something I need to do. What about tomorrow?"

Francis gave Neville a pat on the shoulder.

"That would be lovely."

"Sorry I've been so...weird lately."

"It's alright. We all have those days."

"I'm actually on my way to the greenhouse so I'll see you later," replied Neville.

There was still so much he wanted to talk to Francis about and get sorted out, not to mention his father's strange journal entries but it would simply have to wait. Learning of his gran, Algie and Enid's well being was more important.

"Alright then, take care Neville."

When Neville reached the greenhouse he grabbed a stool and began working with his plants until he was interrupted twenty minutes later.

"Hello Neville."

He quickly turned around, even though he knew immediately that it was Ginny.

"Hey Ginny, come on in. I just got started if you want to join me."

She took a seat next to him and began planting seeds with him.

"How are you?" she asked.

"Fine, you?"

"I've been better," she answered glumly.

Neville lifted his hands out of the potting soil and turned to her.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know exactly..." she began. "I've just been down...for no particular reason."

"I'm sorry," he replied, watching her worriedly. "Anything I can do to help?"

"I'll let you know."

"Well I know something that might cheer you up," he began slowly, returning his attention to his plant.

"What's that?"

"I talked to Dean earlier...and he wanted me to tell you that he misses you and thinks about you all the time and that he's sorry."

Neville paused to give Ginny a moment to reply and when she didn't he continued without looking at her.

"He really does seem to miss you. He hasn't been quite as cheerful since you two broke up."

Silence.

In fact, the silence lingered on for so long that Neville finally once again removed his dirt covered arms from the pot, wiped them on a towel and turned to her.

She was staring at him, her eyes blank.

"Ginny? You alright?"

"Did he tell you to tell me that?"

"Er, no not exactly..." he lied.

"Well, you can tell him this for me. It's over. We're done and I will never date him again. The most we can be is friends but it's going to take awhile."

Neville looked away sheepishly.

"He's not going to like hearing that..." he mumbled.

"Well too bad." Ginny replied sharply, still staring hard at him.

"Er...alright then."

If only Dean would have known how awkward this was for him.

Neville turned back to her again and saw that she had still been staring at him, only now she had tears welling up in her eyes that was was trying desperately not to release.

"Ginny," he began softly. "What's wrong?"

"You have no clue do you?" she whispered.

"No clue about what?"

She began shaking her head sadly and sighed.

"I don't know what it's going to take to get through to you Neville."

He raised his eyebrows and watched her.

He was more confused than ever.

"Ginny, what are you talking about?"

"Have you forgotten already?"

"Forgotten what?"

Ginny finally let out a loud shriek and threw her hands up in the air.

"Don't you remember that night...when we first kissed?"

Neville blushed furiously.

He wanted to dive into his potted plant and disappear.

It's not that he had forgotten, he could never forget that night even if he wanted to.

He had just figured that night hadn't been as special to Ginny as it had been to him and that she would be the one to forget.

"How could I forget Ginny?"

"Well you could have fooled me. It's already as if that night's been forgotten...we don't talk about it or when we kissed a second time."

"I-I..."

"Neville, don't you remember anything I told you on either of those nights?"

He remembered everything.

Ginny continued.

"I want to be with you Neville but i-if you don't feel the same then just tell me! I'm a big girl, I can handle it. I just don't like being drug around."

"I-I...Ginny I just...I-"

"What?! Come on, Neville! Just say it!"

Ginny immediately regretted her outburst but she was getting frustrated with his flakiness.

"I love you!"

Silence.

Neville's eyes widened with horror when he realized what he'd just said.

Ginny's eyes were wide too and they both just stared at each other.

The heat hit his face immediately and he wished a Death Eater would walk into the greenhouse right now and just finish him off.

He couldn't recall having been this mortified in quite awhile.

"Do you mean that Neville?" asked Ginny softly, not taking her eyes off of him.

He mumbled and bumbled and tried to think of an explanation for screaming that out but when he couldn't think of anything he realized that there was no excuse.

He really had meant it.

"Yeah...I do," he began softly, still unable to look her in the eye. "I-I...I've liked you since I took you to the Yule ball. That had been the best night of my life up until when you kissed me. I just...I guess I didn't know how to tell you."

Ginny finally smiled and pulled her stool closer to his.

"Maybe I should become short with you more often," she teased.

When he finally gathered up the courage to look at her he saw that her brown eyes were sparkling and lighter than usual due to the sunlight.

Her pale, tiny face was now inches from his and she leaned in closer.

"I feel much better now," she replied, grabbing hold of his dirt covered hand. "Thank you."

Neville didn't know what had encouraged him to do it but he slowly moved his left hand up to her hair and began to run it through.

He had always wondered sometimes what it would feel like to run his hands through her hair and now he was, he couldn't believe it.

It felt even better than he could have ever possibly imagined.

It was so soft and silky, and just the scent of it practically lifted him up off of his feet.

He moved both hands just below her ears and slowly drew her into a kiss.

His heart fluttered and he silently rejoiced as she wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed him to pull her closer.

While they were kissing Ron's voice popped into his head.

_"Why don't you ask her out?"_

_"What are you waiting for?"_

_"I think you'd be good for my sister." _

Neville couldn't believe this was happening.

This had only been the third time they'd kissed and it only got better and it would only continue to get better, he never wanted this moment to end.

A few minutes later Neville gently pulled away and gave a sigh of relief.

No matter how humiliating he had felt when he blurted out he loved her it had been worth it, it felt so good to finally get his feelings out.

"Ginny," he began softly, his heart pounding from the adrenaline of kissing Ginny and also from what he was about to say. "Listen, obviously I'm not very good with words at times...or actions...b-but I-I've been wanting this for so long but honestly thought it'd be nothing more than a silly dream always hanging over me..."

He paused and took a deep breath.

"This is all just kind of happening so fast..."

"It's okay Neville," replied Ginny encouragingly.

"Well, umm...I-I would love to be your boyfriend...t-that is if you want me."

Ginny softly slugged him on the shoulder.

"Have you not learned? Of course I want you! I'd love to be your girlfriend! I honestly thought you were never going to ask me!"

"Me either," he replied, laughing.

They kissed again and when they pulled away Ginny couldn't contain her smile.

"I just know you're going to make me so happy, I mean...you've already been making me happy but you know what I mean."

"You've always made me happy Ginny. I-I'm just glad that now I'm finally getting a chance to be with you."

"So why don't we go out tonight? You know...celebrate our unification?"

"Oh Ginny, I'd love to but I have something I need to do..."

"What do you need to do?"

Neville hesitated.

"Well, it's a family matter. No big deal."

"What sort of a family matter?"

Neville couldn't tell her, not just yet but he didn't want her to get offended by not sharing.

"I'll tell you all about it tomorrow."

Thankfully she had accepted that answer.

"This all feels like a dream..." replied Neville. "Would you mind pinching me so I know for sure I'm not dreaming?"

Ginny giggled.

"I can do _something else_ to prove that you aren't dreaming," she replied, grinning wickedly.

"Whoa," replied Neville. "Uhhh..."

She giggled again.

"Neville, can you promise me one thing though?"

"What's that Ginny?"

"No secrets..._ever_, about anything. Promise?"

Neville's heart sank.

He was already lying to her.

He had way too many secrets that he had planned on taking to his grave.

Neville pushed the guilt aside and forced a smile.

"No secrets."

------

On the way back from the greenhouse Neville and Ginny had decided it would be best to keep their relationship quiet for a few days until Neville began to feel more comfortable with people knowing.

They were now at dinner which was almost over and the entire time Neville and Ginny acted as they normally would and Dean kept sneaking glances towards them and to Neville as if to try and listen and see that Neville was talking to Ginny for him like he had asked.

Neville was more careful this time about what was going into his mouth, his day had definitely picked up for the better and he did not feel like having a repeat of lunch. Also he had to keep it to a minimum so he could quickly run to the nearest washroom and head on out to Honeydukes.

Luckily for him Dumbledore and Snape hadn't returned yet so their session obviously wouldn't be happening.

His stomach was churning and his appetite was suddenly cut off.

He set his fork down and pushed his plate aside.

He snuck a glance down at his pocket watch, it was ten till seven.

"You're done already?" Ginny questioned. "You haven't eaten a lot."

"'M'full," he mumbled. "Had a big lunch."

He waited until Ginny looked at him and shoved one last big spoonful of potatoes into his mouth.

"Okay, now I'm full."

She smiled and turned to reply to something Hermione had said, and as soon as she did Neville looked around the rest of the table to make sure no one else was watching him and quickly spit out the potatoes into his napkin.

"Well Ginny...I uh, got to go do that thing I told you about earlier...I'll see you later."

And before Ginny could even turn to tell him bye he bolted out of the Great Hall.

He was just about to enter the nearest washroom when he heard hurried footsteps behind him.

He froze.

"Hey! Where are you off to so quick? Aren't you going to let me give you a proper good-bye?"

Neville stood awkwardly in front of the door and smirked.

"S-sorry...I didn't want to interrupt your conversation."

"You wouldn't have and what are you doing? Thought you had something to do?"

"I do..."

"So why were you about to go in there?" she motioned with her head.

"Guess I drank too much pumpkin juice..." he replied, blushing.

"Oh well, go on. I'll wait for you."

"N-no, that's okay...I-I don't know how long I'll be."

"_Oh alright_," began Ginny, finally giving in. "First of all, good luck with whatever it is you're going to do and if I don't see you again tonight I wanted to tell you good night."

She got on her tip toes and kissed him.

"Good night, Ginny."

She began walking back and turned around for one final wave before finally disappearing into the Great Hall.

And as soon as she disappeared, he vanished into the washroom.

------

Neville had his wand gripped tightly in one hand and his most recent letter in the other.

He glanced down to read it once more.

_Neville,_

_I hope you are well. I am writing to you because it is safe enough now for us to meet. I will be at Honeydukes on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. I will be wearing ruby red dress robes. You can't miss me. I must ask that you come alone and that you do not tell anyone of your whereabouts. Also with this I must ask you to continue to keep a low profile and not to leave the school's premises until Saturday when I will have allies watching out for you if anything is to happen. If you have any questions or concerns with the arrangement please write back otherwise I will see you on Saturday at 7'O clock sharp._

_P.S. Your family is safe with me._

_X_

Neville had made it through Hogsmeade without any problems but his stomach was twisting into knots and he had no idea what to expect.

But he had waited far too long to chicken out now.

He took a deep breath and walked into Honeydukes.

He looked around and immediately his eyes were drawn to ruby red robes, which was pretty easy to spot in a sea of gray, black and blue robes.

Neville slowly walked up to the stranger in red.

"Hem, h-hello…" he started.

The stranger turned and smiled up at him.

Neville was rather surprised that it happened to be a girl, and a rather attractive one at that, who did not seem to be much older than him by the looks of it.

She was very thin, with pale, freckled skin and dark brown eyes. Her hair was also dark brown with red streaks running through it. It was styled into a very short, pixie cut that complimented her small face.

"Why hello," she began kindly. "I have to be honest, you look…_nothing_ like I imagined you would…" she paused, with a wide, dimpled smile. "Your gran painted a much different picture…come on then sit," she replied, pulling a chair out for him.

The girl had quite a thick accent but Neville couldn't identify its origin.

There was someone else at the table as well, a boy who didn't look to be much older than the two of them.

He was also very thin, pale and freckled with hazel eyes. He had blue hair which was short and sleek except for one long piece that hung down and covered one eye completely. He appeared to be wearing black eye make up and his fingernails were also painted black. Neville also noticed that he happened to have a lot of piercings. Both of his ear lobes were pierced, his cartilage, his lip, his eyebrow, and his nasal septum- which instantly made Neville think of a bull.

The other boy watched Neville closely as he sat down.

"Well I'm uh, glad you showed up…we weren't sure if you were going to come…" the girl replied, still smiling sweetly at him.

"Yeah, so about my gran…" began Neville.

"Oh she's fine. In fact, she wanted me to give you this…"

The girl reached under the table and pulled out a small package and handed it to Neville.

He opened it and inside was his rememberall, which he hadn't seen in years.

"She said that you could probably find good use for it now…if you don't keep forgetting where you leave it."

The girl winked at him.

"Wow, I-I haven't seen this in ages! Thank you!"

Neville immediately began to feel better and allowed for himself to relax a little bit.

If he had anything to prove that his gran was safe and sound it was his rememberall considering she had been the last person to see it.

"Anyways, back to business…" began to girl lowering her voice. "My name is Cornelia but everyone calls me Nelie and this is my brother Maitland."

She paused for a moment and observed Neville thoughtfully.

"Francis Longbottom is our father…which you've met him already obviously."

Neville stared at both of them in shock.

"Any other long lost relatives I don't know about?"

"Nope pretty sure we're it," answered Nelie, sneaking a glance at the other boy. "Oh and you'll have to excuse my brother…he's a bit angsty most of the time."

"Yeah? Who wouldn't be with a family like ours…" he muttered under his breath.

When he spoke- also with a thick accent- Neville noticed the boy also had his tongue pierced.

Neville wondered how many more places his body could possibly be pierced.

"Right," began Nelie. "So…I'm sure you have a lot of questions. Merlin knows you've been waiting long enough to get this far so ask us anything you'd like."

"Where is my family?"

"They are safely and comfortably in hiding. Of course, I can't tell you where here but we'll take you to see them during your Christmas break. They're all doing fine. Although, as I'm sure our father told you he and your gran had a falling out...so imagine the look on her face when Maitland and I swooped in and whisked them away to safety. She hadn't ever met us before but she knew immediately who we were."

"Who sent you?"

"No one sent us. Our father thought it was too dangerous for us to get involved in the going-abouts here but once we got word that your gran, great-uncle Algie and great-aunt Enid had been attacked we rushed here immediately to help them."

Nelie paused.

"Our father didn't even know we had followed him here until we sent him a letter informing him that you gran, great-uncle Algie and great-aunt Enid were all safe and sound. In fact, he didn't even know they had been attacked until we told him."

Neville's heart sank.

That explained the duplicate letter that he had discovered Francis and Snape looking at.

A tremendous wave of guilt washed over him.

He had been so quick to suspect his uncle of wrongdoing and now he felt like such a jerk.

"We told him not to tell you anything..." she began. "Because we wanted an excuse to finally meet you and we knew that if our father told you himself that your family was safe he'd send us back home. Plus we needed the vacation."

Maitland scoffed.

"I wouldn't call _this_ a vacation," he mumbled.

"Oh, stop it!" exclaimed Nelie.

"I-I'm so glad to hear all of this," began Neville. "I've been worrying myself to death these last few weeks about them."

"Don't worry, we've been taking good care of them. Although, I don't think your gran appreciates it much. She's very set on doing things her own way."

Now it was Neville's turn to scoff.

_If they only knew._

"Are you both members of the order?" he asked.

"No. I'm training to be an auror like dad and Maitland here isn't quite sure what he wants to do."

Neville observed the other boy.

He looked as if he could be his age but he wasn't sure.

Nelie noticed Neville watching the other boy curiously.

"He doesn't talk much..." she began.

"Maybe that's because you never give me a chance," he mumbled.

"Oh Maitland. You are coming off rather rude you know?"

"So I suppose you already know about m-my uh, predicament?" questioned Neville.

"Yes. Dad told us everything."

A few moments of quiet went by before Nelie continued.

"We had a chance to join the order at one point. Dad offered for us to come with him and join when he did but then quickly retracted the offer, deciding it was too dangerous. He still wanted us to come stay here with him but we opted to stay at home."

"I just want all of this to be over," muttered Neville.

"You just got to hang in there," replied Nelie softly.

As Neville continually observed his two newfound cousins he noticed that the resemblance between him and them was rather striking. They all had the same pale, freckled skin and very similar facial features. It was actually somewhat eerie and it sent chills down his spine, especially while looking at Maitland.

Only of course they were both thin and were probably born that way, whereas he was a fat lump who had to practically kill himself to lose even a single pound.

When Nelie reached across the table to smack her brother over something he'd said Neville noticed that she had on the exact same ring as Francis, and Maitland did too.

He wanted so desperately to question the purpose of the rings but decided it could wait. After all, this was only their first meeting and he didn't want to come off as nosy or rude.

He had also realized that Francis had never mentioned a wife but again, he opted not to say anything and let them decide whether or not they wanted to share her whereabouts with him.

"So tell us a little about yourself Neville," replied Nelie with a big grin.

"Uh, I-I'm sure my gran's told you everything there is to know about me."

Nelie's grin widened.

"She also left us with the impression that you were a short, chubby lad with two left feet and very bad posture."

Neville blushed.

Leave it to his gran to give people he hadn't even met yet a solid description of who he was trying hard _not_ to be.

"I enjoy herbology, I'm a chaser on the gryffindor quidditch team and..." Neville stopped, as pathetic as it was he couldn't seem to think of anything else.

"_That's it_?" began Maitland, his eyebrows raised. "Well it looks like your gran got the _boring_ part right."

Nelie slapped her brother on the arm.

"She didn't say that Neville. He's just acting like a jerk so he can feel better about how _lame_ he is."

Maitland smirked.

"Oh so now I'm lame? Who saved you from that fire wielding Death Eater? A second more and you would have been deader than your sex life."

Nelie gasped and nearly knocked him out of his chair.

"You're a pig!"

"Well then I'd reckon that makes you one too doesn't it?"

Nelie groaned and turned away from him.

"Are you two twins?" asked Neville.

"No, thank god!" replied Nelie. "I'm going to be turning twenty-three in a few months and Maitland just turned twenty-one."

Neville was surprised at this, they both looked as though they could pass for his classmates.

"Well I suppose it's our turn. I was born in London but our family moved to Switzerland before Maitland was born. We both attended school at Gottsgemeinde Wizarding Academy and like I said I'm training to be an auror like our dad and Maitland is still trying to find himself," she began with a smirk. "You'd think _four years _would be plenty of time to do that...after all, there isn't much to find!"

"It's not my fault I'm always getting sidetracked!" he rebutted.

"Well that's one thing you're definitely good at, making up excuses."

They continued to bicker back and forth for a few minutes and Neville wondered if this is what he was missing out on by not having a sibling. Who knows, if his parents hadn't ended up the way they did then maybe he would have had a little brother or sister.

Being an only child could get awfully lonely, especially if you happened to be raised with a woman like his gran.

"Sorry..." muttered Nelie, with a slight blush creeping up her cheeks. "Now where were we?"

"Who cares," replied Maitland. "I'm starving! Let's eat."

_More food?_

He had just eaten, and even though it didn't stay down for long he still had hated having to actually look at it, smell it and swallow it.

"It's basically just sweets here," warned Neville. "You know candy and desserts and stuff."

Maitland frowned.

"I want _real_ food. I'm starving!"

"Alright, _alright!_ Neville any suggestions as to where we can go?" asked Nelie.

"Umm, we could try the Grub pub. They usually have good food there, don't know if they're still serving though."

So they left Honeydukes and walked across the street to the Grub pub.

They were immediately seated and their server handed them menus.

Neville slinked down lower into his seat.

The smell of food was still fresh in the air and it was nauseating him.

When Nelie finally turned her attention back on him she smirked.

"Well, it _does_ look like your gran was right about your posture."

Neville smirked and pretended to be preoccupied with the menu.

"What do you want Neville?"

"Nothing for me thanks," he replied.

Nelie frowned.

"C'mon, it's our treat."

"Oh thank you but I'm still full from dinner. We just ate right before I came here."

"What about sharing a dessert or something?"

"I really appreciate it but if I eat anymore I'll bust."

"Just leave him alone Nel."

Neville turned to Maitland, surprised to see that he had actually stuck up for him.

"Oh _alright!_" she replied, completely dissatisfied.

They continued to visit and a few minutes later their food arrived.

Nelie had ordered a slice of roast ham with a side of buttered potatoes, broccoli with melted cheese and a small bowl of curry while Maitland had ordered a rolled chicken and vegetable chajita with a side of hummus and rice.

The food smelled so good yet at the same time it was nauseating.

He couldn't even look at it.

"So what time do we need to have you back? Do you have a curfew?"

"Actually, I'm not even supposed to be out..." mumbled Neville. "My Headmaster strictly forbade me from leaving the school's premises unless he said otherwise.

"Well, aren't we the little rebel?" teased Nelie.

"I-I probably should get back though here in a little bit," replied Neville after looking at his pocket watch.

It was almost eight and someone was bound to notice sooner or later that he wasn't there.

"Alright, we'll walk back with you when we finish."

"You don't have to," began Neville. "I made it here alright tonight."

Nelie and Maitland exchanged looks.

"Yeah, but you got attacked by dementors last time on your way back from here didn't you?"

Neville groaned.

"Yeah and I turned up okay."

"Just cool it, alright? We aren't just here to babysit you, we want to say hi to our dad too," added Maitland.

Neville wasn't going to argue with that.

As soon as they finished their dinner they got up and walked back to Hogwarts.

Neville told them good night and they promised to keep him updated.

He rushed up to his dorm to change into his pajamas, brush his teeth and jump into bed before he could get distracted with anything else.

He didn't know why but he was really tired.

He had had a long day and woke up earlier than usual.

Neville pulled out the enchanted pad that Dumbledore had given to him and began to write on it until he remembered he had to use a code name.

He couldn't think of anything though, he supposed his toad would have to do, although it was a rather boring name but it would do for now.

_It's Trevor. I'm going to bed._

Neville was about to put the pad away until a reply instantly appeared beneath his:

_Thank you for letting me know. What about your friend?_

Neville quickly scribbled his response:

_He probably won't be going to bed for awhile, he's with his friends._

And beneath his came Sirius' response:

_Ah, well good night Trevor. _

_Night._

He put the pad away and slid under his covers, he knew it was early still but he wanted to be plenty well rested for his quidditch game tomorrow.

Today had been the first good day he'd had in awhile, it may have started out rough but so many wonderful things happened. He finally admitted his true feelings to Ginny and gathered up the courage to ask her out, he has finally been reassured of his family's safety and has been acquainted with two new family members that he never even knew about.

Things were very slowly starting to fall into place and he was finally starting to get a few answers.

------

**Author's Notes: **A lot going on here but like I always promise, **nothing** will be left unresolved. :) I've already got most of the story written out- just not in order, haha. But in my head the whole thing is pretty much planned out so I know how it will all turn out. Anyways, not much else to add. Thoughts, comments, feed back. Please leave me reviews! It's the fuel that keeps me going! :) Chapter 22 to follow! Thanks for reading!


	22. Author's Note

**Author's Note: **Hello to all of you...I really appreciate all who have been reading my story faithfully but unfortunately I must announce that until I receive more reviews I must put this story on hiatus for a little while.

In the beginning a variety of different people gave me really good reviews and helpful feedback which not only made me feel good but motivated me to get the chapters out quicker, but for the last ten or more chapters it's been the same two people leaving reviews (you both know who you are and I really appreciate how faithful you have been with each chapter- I thank you so much and hope that you continue reading whenever I decide to continue with the story)

I am not saying that I am abandoning the story, it is just so disheartening to see no new reviews but yet discover that week after week more and more people are favoriting the story or having the newest chapters on alert...it makes me feel like what I am writing is not worthwhile and I just need to take a break.

This story is very important to me and I began brainstorming the initial idea over two years ago and at first it was just a few drabbles and from there one day when I was bored, took it to a whole new level and am very proud of what it's become- but in order to feel motivated I need to know that you want more and expect to see a few more reviews from a variety of different people, rather than just the same people over and over. As a writer I thrive on knowing that you, the reader are enjoying what you read and I also thrive on suggestions, feedback and learning how I can improve the story...and I'm not really getting that at the moment.

I'm sorry if this seems harsh but I need to know how this story affects you guys and if I should even continue with it.

The next chapter should be up in no longer than a month.

I hope you can all understand- I'm not trying to be demanding but if any of you are authors yourselves then you may see where I am coming from.

Again I am sorry and thank all of you who have been supportive, and hope you all continue to read my story.


	23. Reduction

**Chapter 22: **Reduction

_Neville was running, he wasn't sure from who or what and all was silent and still except for his haggard breathing and the pounding of his feet on the cobblestone path._

_'My Lord! The boy is getting away. He has the key!'_

_Neville halted to a stop as millions of dark particles flew down from the sky and began to create a black wall before him._

_Suddenly out of the blackness came forth a figure._

_'Well done, Althalos. I will take it from here.'_

_The figure stepped forward and was illuminated by the single street light lit in the alley._

_Neville opened his mouth to scream as the figure removed his hood but was immediately silenced._

_The figure's paper white face was sunken, wrinkled, deformed and snarling at him. His eyes were red and his teeth yellow._

_Neville's heart literally stopped for a moment when they locked eyes and then continued beating so hard he could hear it in his ears._

_Voldemort._

_'I've been waiting seventeen years for this moment and it has finally arrived,' he began._

_Just the sound of his voice was enough to make even the bravest wizard shake in his shoes._

_'We finally meet,' he continued, 'the pleasure is all mine.'_

_Neville's mind was screaming at him to run or do anything other than just stand there, staring in horror but he was frozen._

_'I do not plan to harm you...that is, unless I am forced to. All you have to do is hand over the key, that is all I want.'_

_Neville began to tremble all the way from his head down to his feet._

_'Do not fear me, boy...those who fear me simply misunderstand me, and when one comes to misunderstand me...they end up dead.'_

_Neville wanted to look away from those glowing red eyes but couldn't, it was as if he were under a trance._

_'You are a brave boy, standing before me listening. I could use someone like you.'_

_Somewhere deep within himself Neville found his voice._

_'N-never! I would rather die than serve the likes of you!'_

_'Is that so? Such a shame...I can do things other wizards only dream of. I can show you things, teach you things that you would have never dreamed possible.'_

_The hairs on Neville's neck stood on end and a chill ran down his spine._

_Suddenly a bright light erupted and engulfed them both, this time when Neville looked around he was alone._

_It was so bright that Neville had to squint._

_Neville began walking around, looking for something but he wasn't sure what._

_He jumped when a voice began to speak, the voice was female, piercing yet calm and soothing._

_'The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches...born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the dark lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the dark lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...the one with the power to vanquish the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies...'_

_Neville began to recite this again in his head but the voice continued._

_'The chosen one is not alone...another ally will come forth and bloom as the time entails...born as the seventh month dies to those who sacrificed their souls...the dark lord hath not marked him, for he has chosen the one he must defeat...the ally will rise from the bottom, where a life of tragedy has plagued him and he will be the only hope if the chosen one should fail...the dark lord knows not that he holds the key, a new enemy for him shall rise.'_

Neville leapt up out of bed hyperventilating.

"Finally, you're up mate!" replied Seamus.

Neville looked around the room, the lights were on and his dorm mates had been scrambling around getting ready for breakfast.

"Sounds like you were having a nightmare..." began Ron. "You kept babbling and moaning and it sounded like you were suppressing a scream or two."

Neville sat up and pressed the back of his hand to his sweaty forehead.

He felt as if he were on fire.

"We all tried waking you up..." added Dean, "at least five times each but whatever you were dreaming about really had hold of you."

Neville looked over to Harry who had been the only one not to say anything and noticed that he was staring hard at Neville.

"Well we're off to breakfast," replied Dean as he and Seamus walked out.

Neville's heart was still pounding.

There had to be a purpose for these dreams but where were they coming from?

Was someone sending him a warning? or was this strictly derived from his subconscious?

Still shaken, Neville swung his legs over the side of his bed and put his glasses on.

"What were you dreaming about anyway?" asked Ron.

"I-I...can't really explain it," he replied lamely, sneaking a glance at Harry.

"Alright then, forget I asked," mumbled Ron. "You two coming?"

"I'll be down in a minute Ron," began Harry. "I'm going to shower...mind if I go first Neville?"

"No," he replied softly.

"Okay well I'm not waiting. See you two in a few."

Harry waited until Ron was out of the room and then moved to sit next to Neville on his bed.

"What did you dream about?"

Neville turned to the other boy and then quickly looked away.

Harry watched him with alarm. Neville's face had gone white and his eyes were filled with an unexplainable amount of fear.

"I-I saw him Harry..."

"_Voldemort_?" Harry questioned in a whisper.

Neville nodded.

"This is the first time I've ever seen him...b-but I've had other dreams of a Death Eater called Althalos Bloodworth...and they both wanted the same thing..."

Harry watched him, waiting for him to continue.

"They both wanted a key...and they think I have it."

Harry watched the other boy, his face now twisted up with confusion.

"A key? Have you told Dumbledore about these dreams?"

"Yes, just the other day...he knew that the Death Eater in my dream was Althalos Bloodworth without me even describing him- I-I couldn't describe him...he was just this cloaked figure. I have no idea how Dumbledore knew..."

"Neville this is serious...this could mean something. You need to tell Dumbledore about this most recent dream."

"I know and I will...just not right away. I have a few things I need to find out first."

Neville grappled with whether or not he would tell Harry about the voice who recited the entire prophecy and ultimately decided not to, at least not yet. He wasn't sure he was ready to tell anyone about that, they'd all think he was insane.

"Sirius wants us to attend another order meeting tonight...will you be able to go?"

"Sure," replied Neville, only half listening.

"I think I'm going to head for breakfast. We can continue this later. Will you be coming down?"

"I need to shower...then I think I'm going to go pay Francis a visit...I've been avoiding him lately and I need to apologize for something."

"Alright, well I'll see you later then."

And with that Harry left.

Neville didn't waste a moment and immediately jumped into the shower, changed into a clean uniform and was about to leave when his rememberall suddenly went off. What in Merlin's name could he possibly be forgetting?

Suddenly he spotted his father's journal and remembered that he was going to take it and ask Francis about his father's strange entries that he'd read the day before.

He quickly grabbed it and made his way down to his uncle's office.

He lightly knocked but found that the door was slightly open so he poked his head inside.

"Hello?"

"Ah, Neville! How good to see you so bright and early, come in and have a seat."

Neville sat down and observed his uncle.

For once he actually appeared to have gotten a good night's sleep but not only that, something else was different about him. Neville finally figured out that he looked happy, excited even and that the usual aura of sadness that eminated off of him had temporarily vanished.

The dark shadows under his eyes had lessened and he was smiling, although his hair was still graying at an alarming rate and his scruffy beard had grown even longer.

"You seem to be in a good mood," replied Neville.

"You would be right," he answered as he adjusted his glasses with a smile.

Neville was about to ask why but his uncle continued.

"So what brings you here?"

"I-I was hoping that maybe we could have breakfast since we haven't chatted in awhile...also I wanted to apologize for my flaky behavior lately. I-I was being stupid...you know, all that about me not knowing if I can trust you or not...it turns out I was wrong."

"Oh no worries my boy. It was my own fault and I am the only one to blame for not giving you reason to trust me. I was going to tell you that your gran, Algie and Enid were safe but the kids begged me not to say anything. They wanted to tell you themselves and therefore have an excuse to finally meet you. Consider it forgotten and in the past. I was just getting ready to leave, I told the kids I'd have breakfast with them since I didn't get to see them last night. Would you care to join?"

"Of course. I'd love to."

"They're both quite the handful I imagine?"

"Er, they are very interesting..." replied Neville.

"It's been hard," began Francis. "They are both adults now and therefore able to make their own decisions but as a father I'm always worrying about them. Cornelia is very independent and stubborn as a troll but I worry about Maitland the most...he's so rebellious and still trying to find himself."

Neville nodded.

"They both begged me to bring them with me so they could join the order and I considered it for a few weeks but ultimately decided I wanted them where I knew they'd be safe. However I should have known they wouldn't listen to me. A few days after the attack on your family I received a letter from Cornelia saying that everything was alright and that they planned to come here to see me and of course to meet you."

"You know..._my_ family," began Neville, "they're _your_ family too...whether or not you like it."

"I'm afraid not Neville," began Francis sadly. "By blood of course but all other ties that make one a family have been severed on account of my own doing and nothing will ever change that. I have my own foolishness to blame and I feel bad for the kids...that they have to suffer on account of my mistakes. I'm the only family they have now and I won't be around forever."

"They have me and so do you. I'm not one to turn my back on family _ever_."

Francis smiled.

"That means a lot Neville and I thank you."

Neville felt as if a million pounds had been lifted off of him. Now that he and Francis were on speaking terms again he could confide in him and see if he knew any of the answers to his many pending questions.

"You ready to head out?" asked Francis.

"Yes," replied Neville.

They both walked outside Hogwarts and onto the grounds.

"Where are we going?" asked Neville.

"Hagrid's," replied Francis, "He was kind enough to offer them a place to stay until further arrangements can be made. Cornelia and Maitland took quite a liking to him and have been staying there for the past week."

"Wow," began Neville. "I've never seen them wandering around the school grounds."

"Yes well they go out at night when everyone else is retiring for the day. I just hope Hagrid can handle them. I feel awful because I've been so busy that I haven't been able to see them yet."

"Does Dumbledore know they are here?"

"Oh yes I would never allow for them to be here without Albus' permission."

When they finally reached Hagrid's hut Neville went in first and greeted Hagrid who he hadn't seen at all this year.

"Well hallo thar Neville! Lon' time no see eh?"

"Hello Hagrid how are you?"

"Fine jus' fine. My yer gettin' tall! Ye keep growin' an' ye may end up tall as me!"

Neville blushed and sat down.

"Good morning, Hagrid."

"Francis, good ter see ye."

"DAD!"

Nelie jumped up and ran into her father's arms.

"We missed you so much!" she replied, burying her face into her father's chest.

"I missed you too. I'm so sorry about last night...I've been so busy and if I would have known you two were planning to see me I would have taken a potion to help keep me awake."

Neville smiled.

Francis looked like he was a good father but at the same time an overwhelming feeling of sadness washed over him as the scene displayed before him was sadly unfamiliar. He had never known his dad and had always lacked a proper paternal figure in his life, his great-uncle Algie tried, but it just wasn't the same.

Neville looked over to Maitland who was sitting quietly in the corner, he hadn't even looked up from the floor.

Francis released Nelie and approached his son.

"Maitland," he replied gently ruffling his son's hair and patting him on the shoulder. "How have you been?"

"Fine," he mumbled.

Francis sighed and looked at Nelie who shrugged her shoulders.

"Alrigh' are all ye ready ter eat?" asked Hagrid.

"Yes I'm starved!" replied Nelie.

"Alrigh' now I've got ter warn ye'" he began, looking at Neville and Francis. "I'm no cook and nothin' I make is gon' be as good as what they got in th' castle but it'll do an' I've bin jus' fine eatin' it meself."

"I'm sure whatever you've prepared for us is perfect," replied Francis.

They all scooted their chairs up to the table while Hagrid gathered the food.

Neville observed his uncle and two cousins and there as plain as day were the three identical rings on all of their fingers.

"So dad..." began Nelie slowly, "Hagrid was telling us that there is an order meeting tonight..."

"Yes," replied Francis.

"Well...Maitland and I were thinking...could we go? Please? We won't join...hell, we don't even have to be in the same room. We just want something to do tonight."

"I don't see the harm in that," he replied with a grin.

"Thanks!"

"Alrigh', now this 'ere is a delicacy an' a fav'rite dish I like ter serve fer company," began Hagrid, "Ye got all yer basic breakfast foods in jus' a few bites."

Hagrid placed a plate of what looked like folded pancakes directly in the center of the table. He grabbed a pancake and put one on all of their plates.

"Now ye don't half ter wait on me ter say anythin'. Bon apetit!"

"Er..." began Neville. He was about to ask what was in it but Hagrid continued.

"Merlin! I almost forgo' yer drinks! Everyon' alrigh' with butterbeer?"

No one protested and he began to fill their mugs.

"Hagrid what exactly is in this?" asked Nelie.

"Well on the outside is yer pancake and on the inside ye got freshly picked strawberries an' blueberries, maple syrup, chopped pieces o' bacon, a couple o' sausages- which I had to fight ol' Fang here fer- an' some bits o' egg...an' a few oth'r special ingredients..."

_"Anything you left out?" _asked Maitland under his breath.

"Go'n dig in! Thar's plenty more fer later."

Hagrid gulfed his down in one bite and was already grabbing a second one while the three younger Longbottoms simply stared at the odd breakfast compilation before them. Francis had taken a small bite and with a simple look at the others urged them to do so as well.

"My Hagrid, this is fantastic. Thank you so much for preparing this also I must thank you for allowing the kids to stay here. I hope they haven't been causing you any trouble."

"Oh I love ter cook," replied Hagrid. "An' yer kids have bin great. They ain't bin no trouble at all. They bin helpin' me 'round the grounds when I need an extra han' or two."

"I'm glad. You must let me know though if they ever do become bothersome and I'll find somewhere else for them to stay."

Neville watched as Nelie and Maitland slowly bit into their breakfast and decided he might as well do the same.

"Cornelia how are things at home?" asked Francis.

"Good but boring. Everything's been taken care of."

"Excellent. Neville we live in Switzerland...we moved there before Maitland was born."

"I already told him dad," replied Nelie impatiently. "You'll definitely get to visit," she continued, turning to Neville. "It's absolutely beautiful."

Neville turned to Maitland and noticed that he had hardly said a word.

He had finished his breakfast and was staring down at his empty plate.

"You know..." began Nelie. "This is actually pretty good Hagrid. It's very filling. Thank you."

"That thar is the beauty o' it."

"Once again thank you Hagrid for the lovely breakfast," replied Francis.

"Don' mention it. You can thank me by eatin' more o' it! Fang's o'er thar beggin' fer the leftovers. I ain't plannin' on givin' 'im any he's spoiled enough as is!"

Francis and Nelie politely reached for one more so Neville decided he would too.

"Dad...if someone should mention Maitland and I joining the order tonight you won't fight it will you?"

"We'll see Cornelia but for right now let's just have a nice breakfast alright?"

"But you already know I want to be an Auror and what better place to join?"

Francis sighed.

"If you both really want to join then I will not stop you. However I will warn you that it's not always easy or pleasant. You will need to talk to Albus about this."

"Oh thank you!" Nelie reached over and gave her dad a quick hug.

By now Neville had scarfed down his second helping and began eyeing the room nervously.

"Uh Hagrid," he began. "Have you got a loo in here somewhere?"

"Righ' back thar," pointed Hagrid. "It'll be yer firs' door on the righ'."

"Thank you."

Neville quickly got up and disappeared inside.

"Good glad yer all enjoyin' yer breakfast. Unfortunately I got ter go clear out a dead animal carcass from the Ferbidden Forrest. Don' no how it got thar or what it is yet...pro'ly was attacked by somethin' bigger. Anyway make yerselves at home."

And with that Hagrid was out the door.

The three forgotten Longbottoms sat silently at the table.

"Maitland," began Francis watching his son warily. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine dad."

"Don't worry he's just been really moody lately..." replied Nelie.

"I'm sorry about what happened before I left," continued Francis. "I shouldn't have reacted the way I did and I hope that you can forgive me."

"Whatever dad I'm over it," Maitland mumbled.

"No son you need to hear this...I was just so worried about you and I overreacted. I was confused and I didn't know what you were doing...or who you were running around with. I just didn't want you to get involved with the wrong people...because as we know from my experience that can lead you into a world of trouble."

"Maybe if you trusted me enough to let me make my own decisions I wouldn't have left."

Francis frowned at his son.

"Running away will only hurt you in the long run son," he began. "Believe me I know and not only will it hurt you but it hurts those who care for you."

"Whatever dad I know you hate my friends and that's fine but I'm not with them right now am I? I'm here so can we drop it?"

"I don't hate them. I just think they seem a bit off is all."

Nelie rolled her eyes.

"Honestly just get over it," she snapped at her brother. "You are being a baby."

"Oh really? Well if I recall correctly you whined and pouted and moped around the house for weeks after dad left. You were so mad at him for not letting us come with and now here you are all chummy with him. You're a hypocrite!"

"Am not!" she shouted.

"Kids- kids! We will _not_ fight...not in front of Neville. He's on edge enough as it is and we're here to help him. We can discuss this all on our own time."

There was an awkward silence until finally Nelie finally spoke.

"Speaking of Neville I think I'm going to make sure he's okay. He's been in the loo for awhile."

She slowly got up.

Meanwhile in the loo Neville had a little bit more food he wanted to get up when there was a sudden knock on the door.

It had startled him into nearly choking on his own fingers.

"_Yeah_?" he called with annoyance.

"You alright in there? You haven't fallen in have you?" Nelie called teasingly.

"I'm fine...be out in a minute!"

He waited until he heard her footsteps descend from the door and continued to purge the remainder of his food.

A few minutes later he flushed the toilet and got up to rinse out his mouth and brush his teeth when found that there wasn't a mirror.

He splashed his face and walked out.

"You alright?" asked Francis as he sat back down.

"Yeah...I guess my stomach didn't agree with Hagrid's food."

"Ours haven't so far either..." replied Maitland glumly. "But we've managed to keep it down...you know out of respect."

Neville blushed.

"Neville I already informed Harry that our session this morning would be canceled. I was planning to use the extra time to catch up with these two. You are more than welcome to stay and join us if you would like."

This had been rather nice to be included by Francis, the only family Neville really had prior to Francis had been his gran, and of course his great-uncle Algie and great-aunt Enid but most of the time he was left alone to fend for himself while they all went out and did their own thing, sadly enough he was used to being alone. In fact, it got to the point where his gran was gone so often that she quit preparing him dinner before she left and eventually he stopped caring enough to prepare any for himself.

Sometimes he would go and sit in the dining room alone anyway and just imagine that his parents were both sitting there with him. He'd fantasize about what they would be eating and what they would talk about and how loving and caring they would be but soon enough his fantasy of what his life would be like if his parents were around would shatter and he'd be brought back to reality and find himself sitting alone.

"Oh I'd love to but I have a few things I should probably get caught up on first."

Neville looked down at his pocket watch.

Breakfast was already over at the castle and he was sure that Ginny would be looking for him.

"I actually better head back," he began, "I've got a lot to do."

"Alright we'll see you at the meeting tonight," replied Francis. "Thank you for joining us."

"Thanks for inviting me. I'll see you all later."

Neville left and began walking back to the castle and realized that he had completely forgotten to show Francis his father's journal entries but decided he'd talk to him after the order meeting when they could be alone.

There was still so much he needed to talk to him about but it could be put off until later.

When he finally reached the castle he went directly to the common room to see if Ginny would be there.

She wasn't, instead Hermione and Ron were having what looked like a very intimate moment and they both looked up when he entered.

"S-sorry don't mind me," he replied, quickly turning around to walk back out.

"No Neville wait!" replied Hermione running up to him. "Come back."

He turned around and approached them.

"You weren't interrupting," she continued. "Why weren't you at breakfast?"

"I uh went to Hagrid's and ate there with Francis."

Ron crinkled up his nose.

"What were you two doing there? Don't get me wrong Hagrid's great but his food...not so much."

"Well Francis' kids were there and he wanted to catch up with them."

At this Hermione and Ron's eyebrows rose simultaneously.

"Francis has kids?" replied Ron. "He doesn't seem like that sort of bloke. So they're you're cousins then, what are they like?"

"They're nice, not much older than us. They're staying with Hagrid for now and want to join the order."

Silence.

"Well I'll leave you two to carry on. I was just looking for Ginny but I guess I'll go to the library..."

"She went to go visit Myrtle," answered Ron.

"She did?"

"Yeah..." he continued, a large grin suddenly growing on his face. "So how long were you planning on keeping yourself and my sister a secret?"

Neville blushed and gawked at Ron.

"What?"

"Oh c'mon, mate. You ought to know by now that Ginny can't keep quiet. She told us you two are dating now. Glad you took my advice."

Neville's blush deepened.

"Er just how many people has she told exactly?"

"Oh don't worry mate," began Ron with a wink. "If you're worried about Dean finding out, your little secret is safe with us. No one else knows except for me, Hermione and Harry."

Neville breathed with relief.

"That's good...not quite ready for him to know yet."

"Oh yeah you guys have got your second game tonight right?" asked Ron.

"Merlin I completely forgot!" exclaimed Neville.

He groaned.

"Neville you said you were going to the library? Mind if I join you?"

It was Ron's turn to groan.

"Well you two have fun there. I'm staying right here."

"Ron...you do realize that our mid-terms are just weeks away. Have you even studied once?"

"Nope. You see Hermione us Weasley's- with the exception of Percy- have a gift. We do better when we don't study."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Alright then don't come crying to me when you don't graduate. Come on Neville. See you later Ron."

When Neville and Hermione reached the library he grabbed her elbow and led her to a secluded table.

"Actually I'm glad you came with me," he began. "I could use your help."

"With what?"

"Well..." began Neville in a whisper, "It won't be easy but I need your help looking up a few things...I imagine they'd be in the restricted section."

Hermione frowned.

"What might you be looking for in the restricted section?"

So they sat down and Neville told Hermione everything about the weird visions and dreams he'd been having with Althalos Bloodworth to the most recent with Voldemort and how they both mentioned a key.

Hermione sat staring at Neville in shock.

"Neville," she began timidly, "I think this is far out of both of our limits...you need to tell Dumbledore."

"I already mentioned Althalos and the key," he whispered, "but he had to leave on official order business. Please Hermione, if anyone can help me it's you."

"Oh alright," she whispered, "but if we get caught..."

"I'm already ahead of you," he replied.

He got up and went over to Madame Pince, Hogwart's residential librarian and put on his most innocent face and sweetly cleared his throat.

"Excuse me? Madame Pince, I was hoping I might ask you a favor?"

"Why yes dear what is it?" she asked smiling kindly at him.

Neville knew she was hard of hearing so he spoke up a little.

"There's a book I was wanting to check out...but I can't seem to find it and my friend suggested that you may know of its whereabouts. I don't remember what it was called but it's about the history of nargles. My friend suggested that they saw you place it in storage. If it's too much trouble for you to look I understand but I would greatly appreciate it."

"Oh not at all dear just give me a moment."

"Thank you."

Neville silently thanked Luna for the knowledge of nargles but felt a pang of guilt, it wasn't normally like him to lie or make things up but desperate times called for desperate measures.

As soon as he saw her tiny silhouette disappear into the storage room he raced back over to Hermione.

"Come on! We have to hurry."

They quietly made their way to the restricted section and Hermione stared at him.

"Neville what did you tell her?"

"I sent her to look for a book that doesn't exist."

Hermione's mouth dropped with surprise.

"Neville! That poor woman..."

"I know, I know...I'll make it up to her but now we have to see what we can find and quickly."

So they both set off to look for any records of Althalos Bloodworth and the key described in Neville's visions.

About twenty minutes later they were in luck.

"Neville!" Hermione hissed. "I think I've found something."

It wasn't a surprise that Hermione had been the first to find something. After all, she spent more time in the library than almost anyone.

"Look," she began holding up a large black leather bound book. It had a large, thick strap holding it shut. "I can't get it to open. I think it may be enchanted."

She set that book down and then held up another one.

This one was also black and across the cover in shiny blood red lettering read:

_**Deathwish**_

_**The Complete Encyclopedia of the Most Evil Wizards**_

_**Throughout History**_

Just the sight of the book itself gave Neville chills.

He set both books down and they continued to look for any references to the key.

Another half hour went by and neither of them had found anything.

"Hermione?" Neville whispered. "That's good for now...we'll come back again."

Hermione emerged and approached Neville.

"Neville we can't look at those in here we're going to have to sneak them out somehow."

Neville pointed his wand at the books.

_"Evanesco,"_ he murmured.

The books suddenly vanished.

Hermione's face fell with shock.

Neville pointed his wand again in the same spot.

"_Termino libero transporto ut_."

Hermione still staring at him in shock finally spoke.

"What did you do?"

"I sent them to the Astronomy tower. Come on we've got to hurry or someone else might get them!"

They slowly exited the restricted section and made their way to the front.

They took off running towards the Astronomy tower and sure enough when they reached the top there were the two books waiting for them.

"Neville that was quite impressive!" replied Hermione excitedly. "Restricted books are supposed to be charmed so they can't be taken!"

"I know," he replied slightly out of breath. "I countered it."

"But how?! Have you done this before or something?"

"Never mind that let's see what they say."

Neville examined the book that wouldn't open and saw that it could only be opened with a key.

"This one only opens with a key...you don't think it could be the key from my visions that opens this do you?"

Hermione examined the book closely.

"It's doubtful...there are plenty of books in the restricted section that are locked with keys."

Neville set the book aside and Hermione opened the other one.

"_Althalos Bloodworth_," she mumbled to herself as she quickly skimmed through the pages.

"I asked Dumbledore who he was but he told me to ask Francis and I haven't gotten a chance to yet..."

"Ah I found him! Listen to this," began Hermione. "Althalos Bloodworth born June 31st, 1742..." Hermione trailed off and she and Neville exchanged a chilling glance. "Neville," she began quietly, "did Dumbledore happen to mention if he was still alive?"

Neville thought back.

"No..."

They both sat in silence and it suddenly became a lot colder around them.

Hermione continued.

"Althalos Bloodworth was born to Kerberos and Jezebel Bloodworth in a small village outside of Blackburn-"

"That's not too far off from where I live..." interrupted Neville shakily.

"The Bloodworths were derived from generations upon generations of purebloods and are credited with creating the first known haven for wizards and witches of all locations to seek refuge from being slaughtered. Althalos demonstrated proper use of magic from the womb and was a certified wizard at the tender age of six. His parents mysteriously fell ill when Althalos was nine and died the week after, witnesses who knew the Bloodworths made claims that young Althalos murdered his parents in cold blood but no evidence of this accusation could be traced.

Althalos was then raised by his grandparents until he was placed in an institution at the age of twelve for committing his first murder. He was released six years later after being deemed rehabilitated and moved to London where he began work as an apprentice to Sebastian Grimdragon for a year. It was believed soon after that he began to grapple in darker magic and formed a cult dedicated to the destruction of the Khan hierarchy whom had ruled the wizarding world for the past three hundred years. During this time it is recorded that Althalos committed over five hundred murders throughout a span of fifteen years and was condemned to death. When he heard of this he went on the run with his cult and eventually went on to fake his own death and remained unheard of for the next thirty years until he reentered society with a new identity and would then be recognized simply as Lorenz Braumsmith.

He continued to recruit young witches and wizards and his cult grew overwhelmingly and would come to be known as Death Eaters some fifty years later. In the year eighteen hundred and fifty five at one hundred and thirteen years of age Althalos' true identity was discovered and he was convicted and tried for his previous crimes including over one thousand murders by his hand for which he was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to death. On the night of his scheduled execution his loyal followers attacked and freed their leader and once again Althalos was spared.

Althalos and his fellow Death Eaters continued to terrorize the wizarding world and in the year nineteen hundred and forty four Althalos was introduced to eighteen year old Thomas Marvolo Riddle, who would eventually come to be known as Voldemort, and from that moment Althalos would come to serve Voldemort and remain his most trustworthy ally. Althalos taught Voldemort everything he knew and even revealed the secret of the sorcerer's stone and the elixir of life when his true age was revealed. In the year nineteen hundred and sixty at two hundred and nineteen years of age Althalos married Eleanor Gaunt and together they had two daughters named Jessica and Elizabeth. Years later Althalos would be caught once more and placed in Azkaban only to escape. Althalos' whereabouts are currently unknown and it is also unknown as to whether or not he is alive to this day."

Hermione stopped and stared at Neville, her eyes wide with horror.

"Oh my god Neville..."

Neville's face had gone white and his mouth had been hanging open.

"This man sounds like he could be worse than Voldemort..." She continued.

"That's what Dumbledore said, he's just as dangerous."

"Neville...are you sure this is the man from your visions? What if Dumbledore was mistaken?"

"He claims that it was Althalos Bloodworth, no he _knew _and he told me to ask Francis."

"Are you going to ask him?"

"Yes tonight after the order meeting I'm going to talk to him."

"Be careful how you approach him Neville...after all, we don't know what we're dealing with."

"I-I've got a bad feeling he's still out there somewhere...why else would I be seeing him in visions?"

Hermione gently examined the book and turned to the front page.

"This book was published in 1969."

"Well at least I know what kind of a wizard I may be dealing with..." replied Neville quietly, a hint of terror still in his voice.

"You need to go to Dumbledore Neville. Tell him about the dream you had of Voldemort it _has_ to mean something. Ask him to tell you about this key."

Although terrified beyond belief, Neville felt slight relief at the fact that he now knew who this mysterious hooded figure who had been haunting him was.

Neville looked down at his pocket watch. It was 10:40.

"Thank you for helping me Hermione. I appreciate it."

"Oh Neville, no need to thank me. You've done plenty for me." She replied, winking at him.

"So Althalos Bloodworth and Voldemort are working together- that is if Althalos is still alive which I reckon he is...if he made it to his two hundredth birthday I wouldn't doubt he was still alive...and they both want a key that was placed in my family's possession. I just- I've never heard of this key and I have no idea where it could be..."

"I'm telling you Neville, go to Dumbledore. He _has_ to have the answers..."

"And if he doesn't?"

Hermione thought a moment before replying.

"Then we'll find the person who does."

------

Neville flushed the toilet, got up, brushed his teeth twice and splashed his face with cold water.

Lunch had ended about twenty minutes ago and he was going to spend some time with Ginny before their quidditch game.

When he descended the stairs to the common room he found that she was standing at the bottom waiting for him.

"What were you doing up there?" she asked.

"Brushed my teeth...and washed my face."

"Oh," she replied, "why are your eyes red? You haven't been crying have you?"

"Oh no...no...must be allergies or something."

"But you haven't been in the greenhouse today..." continued Ginny.

"Indoor allergies," he mumbled, just wishing she would drop it.

"You weren't being sick were you?" she asked worriedly. "Dean used to find you doing that a lot..."

"No _I wasn't_ can we go now? Please?"

_"_Fine..." replied Ginny.

"What do you want to do?" he asked.

"Remember the room of requirement...?"

"Yeah of course," he replied.

"Well...you don't think anyone is using it do you?"

"I don't know. We can check."

So they made their way to the seventh floor and to the spot where the room of requirement would be.

"Do you remember how to get in?" Ginny asked.

"Just a minute...it'll come to me."

Neville began pacing and suddenly a door appeared.

"Brilliant Neville! C'mon!"

She giggled and pulled him inside.

When they entered the room was empty except for five or six floating candles and an enormous love sack for them to sit in. Soft music was also playing.

"Errr..." began Neville as he pulled at the collar of his uniform, "t-this is interesting."

Ginny giggled.

"It's perfect!"

Ginny took a running start and jumped on top of the bean filled love sack and patted the spot next to her.

"Come on now I won't bite I promise."

Neville cautiously made his way over and sat down next to her.

He was beginning to feel very uncomfortable.

"So what do you want to talk about?" he asked, turning to look at her.

"I wasn't planning on talking..." she began with a smirk, "we have plenty of time for that yet."

"Oh uh...yeah...right..."

Ginny giggled again.

"You're nervous...I think that's cute. You're the first guy who hasn't _tried_ to get me into an empty room and snog the hell out of me."

Neville chuckled and stared at her.

He still couldn't believe they were actually dating.

She had a long wisp of hair hanging out of place and he gently reached out to tuck it back behind her ear.

Ginny bit her lip.

The light of the candles made her red hair glow almost as bright as the flames of the fire themselves and her brown eyes sparkled.

"Kiss me Neville," she whispered.

"What time is our game Ginny?"

She groaned and fell back onto the love sack.

"We've got plenty of time. It's not until three."

Neville looked down at his pocket watch. It was already five minutes after one.

"Neville what's wrong?" Ginny asked sitting up and giving him her full attention. "Your mind is somewhere else...I can tell."

"Ginny can we talk?"

"Of course."

Neville took a deep breath. He was about to tell her everything, well _almost _everything.

"Alright well...there's a lot I have to tell you and I'm glad that you suggested coming here actually...there's no chance of anyone hearing..."

Ginny sat up even straighter.

"Alright...all I ask is that you hear me through and I promise you can say whatever you want but please wait until I'm finished...a-and I'll completely understand if you no longer want to be with me after I've finished with what I'm about to tell you..."

He took another deep breath.

"Remember when you, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Luna and I went to the Department of Mysteries where the Death Eaters were after that prophecy?"

Ginny nodded, her eyes burning into Neville's.

"Well...turns out Harry isn't the only one who is mentioned in that prophecy...I am too."

Ginny gasped and quickly slapped her hands over her mouth.

"When Francis first told me I thought it was a joke...I mean, I thought it was complete rubbish. Harry is the chosen one...Voldemort _chose_ him..." Neville paused for a moment and continued.

"Then once I figured out that he wasn't kidding something inside of me just...all of these emotions just burst out of me and I couldn't control them. I was angry and I'd never experienced a rage like that in my entire life, it was weird and a bit scary even. Well then not long after that I found out my gran, great-uncle Algie and great-aunt Enid had been attacked and I received a letter saying that they were safe but I didn't know who had been sending the letters. For all I knew it could have been _anyone_ and my family could have been _dead_. Well eventually the person who had been sending them arranged a meeting at Honeydukes yesterday...so when I told you yesterday that I had a family matter to attend to that's what that was."

Ginny nodded but remained silent.

"It turns out Francis has two kids and his daughter had sent the letters. She and her brother rescued my family and put them in hiding although they couldn't tell me where but she told me I could see them during the break. Well, getting back to the prophecy and my involvement in it, beginning from the night Lavender and I were attacked I have been seeing this cloaked figure in visions and he has been asking for a key and this morning I woke up from a nightmare and Voldemort and the same cloaked figure were in it and he wanted the same key. I-I went to Dumbledore yesterday and he said the cloaked figure is an evil wizard named Althalos Bloodworth and Hermione and I did some more research on him earlier today and he's out for blood...Harry's and mine. So anyway Dumbledore told me that this key that Voldemort wants so badly was placed in my parents' possession for safekeeping which is why they were attacked, it's also why my gran, Algie and Enid were attacked, because they were thought to have had the key last after my parents. Dumbledore says the keys whereabouts are currently unknown but I've got to find it. Hermione and I looked for information on it in the restricted section of the library earlier but couldn't find anything."

Neville paused and eyed Ginny warily.

"I-I would have told you sooner but I just I couldn't...I didn't know what you'd think...other than you I've only told Hermione."

Suddenly Ginny looked up hurt.

"You told Hermione before me..."

"Ginny I-I'm sorry it's just she was right there a-and I-I had to tell someone I just...the stress of it all was killing me. I-I wish it could have been you but like I said I didn't know how you'd take it. I thought you might treat me differently...I'm not safe to be around and I don't want to put you in harm's way."

"Is it my turn?" she asked suddenly.

Neville nodded in defeat.

"This doesn't change _anything_ Neville," she began. "I feel the same about you now as I did before knowing all of this and how I feel about you will never change. I am here to help you in any way I can and when I said you were stuck with me I meant it."

Neville couldn't contain his smile.

"Oh Ginny...that's the best thing I've heard all day."

He pulled her into a hug and kissed her forehead.

"Now that all that's out of the way..." she began, "would you please kiss me already?"

Neville smiled and immediately granted her request.

------

After a surprisingly long snog session- which had been Neville's first and he had to continually peek his eyes open just to make sure it was actually happening- Neville and Ginny ended up falling asleep.

Neville opened his eyes and stretched his long arms over his head and noticed that Ginny had been curled up beside him- her head on his chest and both arms wrapped around him. He slowly attempted to make himself more comfortable without too much movement as not to wake Ginny.

It felt nice, just laying there with Ginny nuzzled against him and he didn't want to get up.

He stared down at her- she was so beautiful even as she slept.

He watched the rising and falling of her chest as she breathed.

Neville took her hand and interlocked her fingers with his and with his free hand gently began pushing away the loose wisps of hair that had fallen in her face.

He was madly and hopelessly in love with this girl and never in his wildest dreams would he ever have imagined that she could possibly even feel as much towards him, he felt truly blessed.

Neville slowly grabbed for his pocket watch to check the time. It was 2:48.

He gasped and gently shook Ginny.

"Ginny, wake up! Our game!"

"Huh? Hmmm..."

He sat up and crouched down in front of her and gently began to shake her.

"We fell 're going to be late!"

"Huh, Neville...what're...huh?"

Ginny stretched and stared at Neville groggily.

"Ginny the game starts in ten minutes!"

"Ah fuck! Help me up!"

Neville stared at her for a moment, startled by her sudden burst of profanity and then proceeded to pull her up.

They both immediately took off running.

------

"Alright has anyone seen Neville or Ginny?" questioned Dean irritably, glancing from one team mate to the other.

They all shook their heads.

"If they don't get here soon we'll be forced to forfeit."

Dean began pacing back and forth and as each minute ticked by he was having a harder time masking his annoyance.

"Where the bloody hell could they be?! They knew we had a game today! Why the bloody fuck wouldn't they tell anyone where they were going to be?!"

Dean looked up at the clock.

2:54.

"If we do by chance get to play today..." began Dean through clenched teeth, "we need to be ready and on the defensive. Slytherin's got Crabbe and Goyle as their beaters so it's bound to get ugly out there."

Parvati cleared her throat and stepped forward.

"Uh I-I recall Lavender telling me that she heard from my sister who heard from Luna Lovegood that Neville and Ginny were seen on the seventh floor a couple of hours ago...if that helps."

Dean's face fell and what had until now just been irritation turned into full blown rage.

"_Oh...were they now_? By chance did you happen to hear what they were doing up there or where they were going?"

Parvati shook her head.

2:56.

"Right, I guess that's it..."

"We're here! Sorry!"

Neville and Ginny ran inside, both out of breath and their hair a mess but they had come dressed in their quidditch uniforms.

Dean raised an eyebrow.

"Where have you two been?"

"Don't worry about it Dean," replied Ginny coolly.

"Whatever," he snapped, glaring at both of them . "Let's get out there and win!"

They all made their way out onto the quidditch pitch, mounted their brooms and flew into position.

They would be playing against Slytherin.

As soon as Neville locked eyes with Malfoy his stomach did a flip.

Both teams were suspended in mid-air, their bodies forward and tensed waiting for the sound of the whistle to start the game.

When it finally sounded Dean sprang forward and easily grabbed the quaffle.

"Thomas has got the quaffle and is going for the goal--OH AND ZABINI BLOCKS IT!"

Blaise Zabini sent the quaffle soaring directly into Pansy Parkinson's arms and she went for the goal but missed.

Neville whipped past Malfoy and positioned himself under the third hoop.

"Parvati!" he shouted.

She threw him the quaffle and just as he was about to throw it in he felt the force of a bludger slam into his head, which nearly knocked him off his broom.

"OOOH OUCH! Longbottom just took quite the hit but still managed to score! THAT PUTS GRYFFINDOR ON THE BOARD WITH 10 POINTS!"

Ginny immediately flew over to Neville.

"Oh my gosh Neville! Are you alright?!"

He began to rub his head, it felt as if his skull had been shattered.

But he knew he'd have to grit his teeth and get through the game.

"M'fine," he muttered with a grimace.

"You sure? He hit you awfully hard..."

Neville nodded and dodged another bludger as he flew after the quaffle, he passed it to Dean who scored.

"THAT'S 20 POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR!"

Loud cheers came from the Gryffindor side and Neville looked out and saw Hermione, Ron and Harry all waving and cheering.

He just happened to glance at the staff section and saw that his uncle, along with Nelie and Maitland were also watching.

Great just what he needed more pressure to do well.

"Oh Parkinson just took a hit from Timm's bludger! QUAFFLE'S UP IN THE AIR--THOMAS HAS IT--HE'S GOING FOR THE GOAL--OOOH TOUGH BREAK! INTERCEPTED BY NUEGET--AND HE SCORES! SLYTHERIN IS ON THE BOARD WITH 10 POINTS!"

Blaise Zabini threw the quaffle into play and Neville dove for it, Crabbe was coming right at him while Goyle slammed a bludger towards him.

Neville flew underneath Crabbe and managed to dodge the bludger as he grabbed the quaffle.

"Longbottom's got the quaffle...OH but he can't reach the goal--it's being blocked--he's going for it anyways and...LONGBOTTOM SCORES! 30 POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR!"

Neville happened to see Malfoy screaming at Crabbe and Goyle out of the corner of his eye and when he finally looked Malfoy made a rather rude hand gesture.

"Neville you're doing great!" squealed Ginny as she flew by him.

"Thanks," he replied blushing.

Dean flew by them and shot her a nasty look.

Ginny saw the confusion on Neville's face and she gently rubbed his back.

"Don't mind him. Just focus on the game," she whispered, before flying back into position.

"And Bartlyby scores! That's 20 for Slytherin! They're right on Gryffindor's tail!"

"Patil's got the quaffle- my that girl is speedy- oh she's just been hit by Crabbe's bludger! She passes to Longbottom who also takes a bludger from Crabbe! He dives under Goyle- he's going for it- and LONGBOTTOM SCORES! 40 POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor side began cheering and screaming and chanting Neville's name so he couldn't help but grin.

After all, he'd scored three of the four goals so far.

"ANOTHER GOAL BY PATIL! THAT'S 50 POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR!"

Before Neville even knew what hit him he felt an excruciating amount of pain in his back, he turned and saw that Goyle had snuck behind him and slammed him in the back. He looked over and saw Malfoy high five him.

"Longbottom looks to be experiencing some sort of injury...Gryffindor's team captain has called for a time out!"

Dean flew over to him.

"You alright?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Yeah I'll be fine."

"Neville?" questioned Ginny as she flew over. "I saw what Goyle did to you...are you okay?"

"Ginny I'd appreciate it if you'd go back out and watch for that snitch," replied Dean rudely, without even looking at her. "As team captain it's _my_ job to make sure my team mates are okay."

Ginny glared at him.

"And you wonder why I dumped you..." she snapped.

"Now is _not_ the time for this Ginny," he growled.

"Yeah that sounds familiar...just like any other time was _never_ the time."

"Shut up! I'm not going to have us lose this game because of _you_!"

"Hey! _Watch it _Dean," snapped Neville getting in between them.

"_BECAUSE _of me?!" Screamed Ginny. "Wow you haven't changed a bit have you? Still blaming me for everything!"

"Uh oh...looks like Thomas and Weasley are having a slight altercation..."

Neville cleared his throat.

"Er guys...we've got a game to play."

Dean quickly flew away and signaled to Madame Hooch that they were ready to resume the game.

"Parkinson scores! 30 points for Slytherin!"

---

Today's quidditch game had lasted much longer than their first game had and Neville was already exhausted.

He could feel himself growing weaker.

The score was now 120 to Slytherin's 80 and the game didn't look like it was about to end.

"Malfoy sees something...he's diving--nope, false alarm!"

Neville went on to score another three goals bringing their score to 150 when Ginny finally spotted and caught the snitch.

"And that's it ladies and gentleman! Gryffindor wins again!"

As they all flew down and dismounted their brooms everyone from the stands came down to congratulate them while the Slytherins all began cursing and fighting with one another.

As soon as they reached the ground Ginny threw her arms around Neville.

"Oh you were great!"

"Well..._you're_ why we won," he replied.

"Yeah but you scored the most goals and if you wouldn't have kept us so far ahead of Slytherin we might not have!"

"Oh boy...Dean does _not_ look happy," muttered Neville.

Ginny turned around to glance at Dean who had began stalking back towards the castle with Seamus trailing after him.

"Screw Dean!" exclaimed Ginny. "If he's going to be a baby let him! I don't care so why should you?"

"Dunno," answered Neville honestly.

"Neville you were great!" began Ron slapping him on the back. "You too Gin! Merlin the Slytherin's are pissed. Good on you!"

"Great game guys," added Harry, joining them.

Hermione came next and hugged both Neville and Ginny and then yawned.

"That was a rather long game wasn't it..." she replied. "Although you both played very well."

"What time is it?" asked Ron.

"Five," answered Hermione.

"Neville you were splendid! Very well done!" Neville turned and saw that his uncle and two cousins were approaching them.

"Thanks."

"Your dad would have been so proud of you," continued Francis.

Neville nodded.

"Wow very fascinating game!" began Nelie. "We didn't have quidditch at our school..."

Neville noticed that his friends hadn't said anything yet and were all studying the other two Longbottoms curiously- especially Maitland. The others stared at him with bewilderment as none of them had ever seen anyone with so many facial piercings before, and Ron had been studying Nelie a little too closely as Hermione jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.

"Oh how silly of me," began Francis. "These are my children Cornelia and Maitland."

They all introduced themselves to Neville's cousins and visited for a little bit until they decided to head back to the castle.

Now Neville and Ginny were alone on the quidditch field.

"You're cousins are very nice," she began. "They look just like you."

"They're staying with Hagrid."

"That's very sweet of him to let them stay."

Neville nodded.

"Want to go to Hogsmeade after dinner?" asked Ginny. "After all, you still owe me a date."

"I'd love to but I have to go to an order meeting after dinner."

"Well..." began Ginny thoughtfully. "We've still got plenty of time until dinner...want to go back to the room of requirement and kill some time?" she finished with a wicked grin.

Neville blushed and his face broke out into a grin.

"Sure."

------

At dinner Neville had wolfed down five slices of ham, five biscuits, a large mound of mashed potatoes with gravy and two slices of pumpkin pie.

And thankfully it had all come up just as easily as it had gone down.

He brushed his teeth, splashed his face with cold water and when he opened the door he was startled to find Ron waiting on the other side.

"What's wrong?" asked Ron suddenly.

"Nothing..."

"But I heard you throwing up in there..."

Neville began to panic, he had been in such a hurry that he had forgotten to cast a silencing charm.

"Oh well...must have been something I ate then."

Ron raised an eyebrow and stared at Neville.

"I don't see anyone else getting sick."

Neville was beginning to grow agitated. Ron was beginning to sound like Hermione, in fact, maybe she had been talking to him.

"Well then maybe I've come down with something then...I don't know."

Ron gently pushed past Neville without a word and entered the washroom.

Neville quickly grabbed his father's journal and the two books from the restricted section and went to meet Francis and Harry at Hagrid's.

When he arrived at Hagrid's hut Francis was already there, he had just finished having dinner with Nelie and Maitland although Hagrid was nowhere to be found.

"Oh hello Neville, you're here rather early aren't you? Is dinner over already?"

"No I-I just finished early."

"I see. Well there is plenty here if you're still hungry."

"No thank you."

"So Neville," began Nelie, "was that pretty little red head your girlfriend? Ginny was her name right?"

Neville blushed but said nothing.

"Now, now Cornelia...we mustn't stick our noses where they don't belong," replied Francis.

"I'm just curious..." she replied innocently, batting her long eyelashes.

"Hem...yes she is..." Neville answered so quietly that he hoped they hadn't heard but of course they did.

"You were both so cute out there during your game today...the way she kept flying over to make sure you were alright and the way you tried to shield her from oncoming bludgers- ah to be young and in love..." sighed Nelie.

Neville's blush deepened.

"She really is quite a nice girl," replied Francis. "I'm happy for you Neville."

"Does she have any sisters?" asked Maitland suddenly.

Neville had been so surprised that he had actually spoken that it took him a moment to reply.

"Nope. Six brothers."

"_Damn_," he muttered under his breath.

"_Ohhh_..." began Nelie with a sly grin. "Six brothers eh?"

"Well let's see," began Neville, thinking carefully, "the oldest is Bill who just got married and then there is Charlie, then there's Percy and Fred and George and Ron, who you met earlier. Actually you'll probably meet Charlie, Fred and George at the order meeting tonight."

At this Nelie's eyes lit up.

Francis cleared his throat and moved around awkwardly in his seat, watching his daughter who just shrugged at him.

About twenty minutes later Harry showed up.

"Shall we be heading out then?" asked Francis.

They all walked out past the gates and apparated to Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

When they reached the dining area there was no one else there yet.

"Alright kids-" began Francis letting them walk ahead of him, "go have a seat. I'm going to find Sirius."

"Wow this place is really cool," replied Nelie. "Who's Sirius?"

"He's my godfather," replied Harry. "This is his home. It's where all of the order meetings are held."

"So what all goes on in these meetings?" asked Maitland. "I hope they aren't boring...I've been bored enough as is..."

"Well if you take an interest in what's going on in the world then it shouldn't be too boring," replied Harry.

A few minutes later Sirius and Francis walked in.

Sirius walked over to Nelie and Maitland and introduced himself.

"How wonderful to finally meet you both," he began. "So your father tells me you two would like to join the order eh?"

They nodded.

"Shouldn't be a problem," he continued, "that is if you can handle and pass initiation," he finished with a wink.

"Sirius has Dumbledore been in contact with anyone?" asked Neville.

"He and Snape are still out on order business..." answered Sirius. "So I'll be running tonight's meeting."

Neville and Harry exchanged grins.

That would mean another night of freedom from Snape.

Mad-eye walked in and his magical eye immediately rolled over to the Longbottom siblings.

"Alastor...these are my children Cornelia and Maitland," replied Francis.

"Hello," said Nelie.

Mad-eye examined them both but then stopped on Maitland and narrowed both his good and magical eye on him.

"What's that all over your face there boy?"

"It's a fine art known as body modification. They're called piercings."

Mad-eye grunted and sat down.

Next entered Tonks, with her usual spikey hair only now it was neon green, closely followed by Remus who greeted Neville and Harry and then introduced himself and Tonks to Nelie and Maitland.

"Does any of that hurt?" asked Tonks, staring at Maitland's many piercings with curiosity.

"Nope."

Tonks continued to stare with amusement and then turned to Remus.

"What would you think if I had a couple of piercings..."

"Depends on where," answered the aging werewolf softly.

Maitland turned to Neville.

"I _like_ her," he whispered.

"Oh those two are sort of together..." answered Neville.

Maitland stared at Tonks and Remus in shock as they took their seats.

"She's with _him_?" he replied incredulously.

They all chatted amongst each other while waiting on the others to arrive.

Next to enter were Fred and George Weasley who immediately spotted the newest female addition to the room and wasted no time in getting to her- fighting over who would speak to her first.

"George Weasley!" exclaimed George, elbowing his twin in the ribs and shoving him out of the way.

He then grabbed her hand and brought it up to his lips.

"The pleasure is all mine," he finished.

Nelie giggled.

Suddenly Fred grabbed George by the collar of his shirt and yanked him back.

"Fred Weasley," he began, also kissing her hand. "Also known as the funnier and better looking twin."

Charlie Weasley then walked in and rolled his eyes.

"Don't mind them...they tend to act like complete baffoons whenever pretty girls are around. It would seem someone accidentally let them out of their cages..."

"Hey!" exclaimed Fred.

Nelie's eyes grew wide as Charlie approached and stuck his hand out for her to take.

"Charlie Weasley and you are?"

"Cornelia Longbottom..." she replied slowly, her brain suffering from a freeze. "I mean Nelie! I prefer to be called Nelie."

"Nice to meet you. And you are?" he continued, gently pulling his hand out of Nelie's and taking Maitland's.

"Maitland."

Charlie smiled once more at Nelie and went to sit on the opposite side of the table much to her disappointment.

"I want to sit by her!"

"No I want to!"

There was an awkward silence from everyone else as Fred and George argued over who would sit next to Nelie.

"Uh one of you can have my seat..." offered Maitland standing up.

He moved to the other side of the table to sit by Tonks.

Fred and George both dove into seats on either side of Nelie and she smirked at her brother as if to say _'thanks.'_

Kingsley Shacklebolt was the last to enter and as soon as he did Sirius stood up and cleared his throat.

"Alright, as you all know...Albus and Severus are still out on official order business so I kindly offered to step in and guide us through tonight's meeting. I'm sure you all know by now that we have two fresh new faces with us tonight."

Sirius paused a moment and turned to Nelie and Maitland.

"In case any of you hadn't had the pleasure this is Cornelia and Maitland Longbottom- Francis' children. We're all very happy to have you with us-"

"When do we get to join?" interrupted Maitland.

Nelie shot her brother a threatening look as if to say, _'don't ruin our chances!'_

"Oh well, that's uh a very good question but I think we should hold off on the invitations until Albus returns...right, now I just heard from Albus a few hours ago that there have been eight different attacks today..."

The rest of what Sirius was saying went from words to dead air simply traveling in one ear and out the other.

Neville couldn't wait for the meeting to end so he could talk to Francis, he had so much to tell him even more to ask him.

He was beginning to get antsy and others were taking notice.

"You alright mate?" hissed Harry.

"Fine...yeah just uh...nervous I guess."

"About what?"

"Dunno..."

"Remus you do pose a very good question..." continued Sirius. "What can we do to prevent any more attacks?"

"There are literally thousands upon thousands of Death Eaters," began Tonks sadly, "there just aren't enough of us to take them all on."

"Might I make a suggestion?" asked Nelie, slowly putting her hand up.

"Of course," replied Sirius.

"Well...why not consider picking them off in smaller groups rather than in large ones? And use a spy to go in and lead them off so that way before they even know what happened it'd too late. We-we'd need someone convincing obviously and it'd be very dangerous..."

Francis stared at his daughter with a mixture of awe and shock.

"Cornelia...whatever gave you such an idea?"

She looked away from her father guiltily.

"Maitland and I...w-we've put a couple of ideas to test...including this one."

"WHAT?"

Neville and everyone else slightly jumped when Francis yelled, as he was normally seen as a mild mannered, soft spoken and reasonable man who would never raise his voice.

"Sorry dad...but you have to remember we're adults now and we're here to help. We want to join the order and help win this war."

Francis' entire face turned red and he then turned his eyes to his son, who also looked away guiltily.

"So that's what you were doing with...with _those_ _people_. You were a spy! Do you realize how dangerous that was...so incredibly stupid on both of your parts!"

"We were careful dad," muttered Maitland. "We knew what we were doing. You should be proud of us!"

"Proud? Proud of both of you going behind my back and betraying my trust? What if something had gone wrong? And I wasn't there to save you, then what? You two could have gotten yourselves killed!"

"Dad how do you expect me to become in Auror if you won't let me train?!" screamed Nelie.

There was an awkward silence- all had become so silent that you could hear the rolling of Mad-eye's magical eye as it surveyed the room.

"I apologize everyone..." replied Francis quietly, his face still beet red. "Kids we will discuss this later."

"There's nothing left to discuss dad," snapped Maitland. "Pretty sure you covered everything including public humiliation."

Francis sighed and waved his hand to Sirius.

"Sorry please do continue."

"Right..." began Sirius with a pause, as if making sure there would be no more interruptions. "If you don't mind my saying Francis, your daughter actually has a very good idea here..."

"I agree with Sirius," added Charlie with a wink.

Nelie smiled at him and returned the wink.

Sirius waited and when the older, graying Longbottom said nothing he continued.

"Of course, we'll have to run this by Albus and see what he says."

The meeting continued and his uncle and two cousins continued to argue, as well as Sirius and Remus over the welbeing of he and Harry but he had blocked it all out and kept sneaking glances at his pocket watch, which seemed to tick by so slowly.

"Does anyone have anything they would like to say?"

Neville thought about speaking up about everything. About the visions he'd been having of Althalos Bloodworth, about his nightmare with Voldemort and the second part of the prophecy, the key and so much more but something inside of him kept him from doing so.

When Neville snapped out of his thoughts he saw that the meeting had come to a close and over half of what had been said during the entire meeting had not registered, which was definitely not a good thing.

The only people remaining were the three Weasley brothers who were all crowded around Nelie, Maitland and Francis, who were having a heated discussion in the corner, Harry, Sirius and himself.

"You alright there?"

Neville looked up to find that Sirius had taken a seat next to him.

"You seemed out of it during our meeting," he continued. "Didn't take a single word in did you?" he finished with a small grin.

"S-sorry...it wasn't you-I swear!"

"What's on your mind?"

Neville was going to wait and speak directly with Francis but by the looks of things he wouldn't be available for awhile and seemed to have his hands full with his own kids at the moment.

"I saw _him_," Neville blurted without thinking.

"Whoa, slow down boy...saw _who_?"

Sirius' face fell as he saw the color drain from the young boy's face and his eyes grow even darker with fear.

"V-voldemort," he whispered.

"Oh my god...where? When?"

"I-I had a dream- last night or maybe it was this morning...he was in it a-and he wanted a key then all of a sudden this bright light erupted and h-he vanished and this voice began reciting the prophecy...only when I thought it had finished it continued..."

"What did it say Neville?" asked Sirius, his eyes burning into Neville's.

"I-I don't remember..."

"Try Neville, this is important."

Neville did try but he just couldn't remember.

"I'm sorry...I just can't right now. I-It'll come to me."

"Neville this is very serious. We must alert Albus."

"NO!" he shouted a little too loudly as the other remaining members turned to stare. "I mean, not right away- please! I want to see if I have any more dreams."

"Neville this isn't something that can be negotiated. Your life and Harry's and many other people's depend on _any _information we can get."

Neville slumped down in his chair and sighed.

"Why me? Why Harry? Why anyone?"

Sirius placed a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder but said nothing.

"I'm telling him Neville," was all he said.

Neville nodded silently with agreement.

Dumbledore needed to know this and the longer he waited the less good that would come of it.

Nelie, Maitland and Francis finally approached Neville.

"You ready Neville?" asked Francis sounding exhausted.

"Ugh I hope Hagrid doesn't save us any of his after dinner snack," replied Maitland to no one in particular.

"You both are staying with Hagrid?" asked Sirius.

"Ignore my brother," began Nelie, "he's been very kind and we quite like him."

"Well of course! Who doesn't like Hagrid but it seems like it would be a bit crowded in his hut, yeah?"

"Just a bit," replied Nelie honestly.

"Well no more of that you kids can stay here with me."

"Oh really?! That'd be fantastic! Poor Hagrid...I think he's actually grown to enjoy our company...I don't know how he'll take it."

"No worries Cornelia, you leave that to me...I'll tell him that I've put you two to work on official order business," Sirius assured her with a wink.

Francis observed his kids warily and then looked back at Sirius.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure Francis! You act like I've never been around kids their age before! We were their age once remember?"

"Alright well if they are any trouble at all...you send them right back."

"You worry too much Francis," replied Sirius, slapping his friend on the back. "You always have."

"_You got that right_," muttered Maitland under his breath.

"So it's settled then," began Sirius, "for tonight I've got some spare clothes you can sleep in and tomorrow you two can go and get your luggage. How does that sound? Shall I show you both where you'll be staying?"

Neville waited until Sirius, Nelie and Maitland had left the room before speaking, he didn't even care that Harry was still present he just had to say something to his uncle now before he forgot.

"Francis there are some things I need to tell you...and ask you."

His uncle looked down at him with tired eyes but tried his best to put on a smile.

"Of course Neville. Go on."

"Well..." began Neville hesitantly but before he could continue Harry spoke.

"I think I'm going to go check out where Nelie and Maitland will be sleeping," he replied, receiving Neville's nonverbal message that he'd wanted to be alone with his uncle.

"Are you alright Neville? You don't look very well..." began his uncle.

"I'm fine...just stressed as usual, you know about the same people, the same things."

Francis nodded understandingly.

Neville took a deep breath.

And he told his uncle everything, from the very beginning as far back as to when he figured Francis was involved with wrong-doing, and how he still didn't trust Snape or his intentions, to the night of the attack on he and Lavender by the Dementors, to the visions he'd been having of the mysterious hooded figure and the dream he awoke from this morning with Voldemort and the flash of light and the reciting of the prophecy. He even showed Francis the book that would not open and read his father's strange journal entries of the old fortune telling witch whom his father had encountered.

Francis sat for a moment, attempting to let everything sink in.

"Merlin," he began, sounding slightly overwhelmed, "no wonder you seem like such a wreck. That's an awful lot to carry around for so long..."

"I know," started Neville, "which is why I'm hoping I can get a few answers."

"I can answer a few of them. The entries your father wrote in his journal for instance, I barely recall the fortune teller but I do believe your father had been telling the truth- not to be offensive but he couldn't have dreamed up such a story. I never asked him about it again and our parents were attacked because they were believed to have had this key you speak of, which is why your Gran, Algie and Enid were attacked again- no one is sure who was the last to have that key other than your parents."

"Have you ever seen this key?"

"Oh yes," started Francis slowly, "I've touched it...held it in my own hands. It's very powerful. Which is why Voldemort wants it so badly...he wants to use it to take over the wizarding world in the worst way imaginable..." Francis suddenly trailed off. "I probably shouldn't be the one to tell you all of this Neville."

"No please...I'm finally starting to get some answers..."

Francis sighed and continued.

"That key, Neville...has been in existance since the beginning of our time. All of the greatest wizards- good and evil fought for it and each and every one of them have failed at claiming it and for years the key was passed around and hidden so often that eventually it was forgotten about and its whereabouts were for awhile unknown. Then Albus learned of its whereabouts and sought out to find it and when he did he vowed to keep it in good hands so that it would not fall into the wrong ones. He entrusted your parents to keep it safe which is ultimately what caused their great sacrifice but even though they lost their souls, they kept their word and had hidden the key before they were attacked and now no one is sure where it is unless your Gran knows, for which I have no idea..."

Neville stared at his uncle in awe waiting to hear more.

"But it is important that this key be found Neville," he continued, his tone growing dark and hushed, "because if Voldemort should find it before any of us do...that'll be it..."

Chills ran down Neville's back as he continued to listen.

After a few moments of silence Neville somehow found the courage to speak.

"W-when I told Dumbledore about my visions of the dark hooded figure he knew immediately who I was referring to and I hadn't even described him. I couldn't describe him because I-I never saw his face...but Dumbledore _knew_ and when I wanted to know more about him he told me to ask you."

"Go on..."

"So I got Hermione to help me and we went to the restricted section of the library and we read up on him and he's just as evil and manipulative and cold blooded as Voldemort himself..."

"What is his name Neville?"

Neville paused for a moment before uttering the name.

"Althalos Bloodworth."

At this Francis' face went completely white and he looked as if he were about to be sick right then and there.

"Oh...a-are you...? Alright?"

Francis stared at his Nephew, his eyes appearing darker and more lined and he opened his mouth to speak but not a sound escaped.

"Francis?"

Francis stared hard at his nephew but still would not speak.

"I-I didn't mean to upset you...i-it's just that Dumbledore said to ask y-"

But before Neville could finish Francis had interrupted him but had spoken so quietly that Neville hadn't heard what he'd said.

"What?" asked Neville.

"_I married his daughter_."

------

**Author's Note: **Wow okay this was easily one of my longest chapters to date! SO much going on but Neville is finally getting more answers and less questions! So yay to that. You guys are so awesome for reading and I had a change of heart after I posted about my hiatus and was thankful to have gotten some wonderfully encouraging reviews! So thank you to those of you who stepped out from behind the shadows to leave me a review! And I hope that you all continue to leave reviews. I also decided to post chapter 23 as well because 22 has been finished for awhile and I just finished 23 today so it's a double treat! Thanks so much again for the continued support. I appreciate it! I look forward to seeing more of your reviews! :)


	24. Abstraction

**Chapter 23: **Abstraction

The silence that resignated through the room was deafening.

Neville could actually hear his ears ringing.

He and his uncle just stared at each other, both completely in shock at what had just been revealed.

Francis looked down to stare at his hands which were clasped tightly in his lap and finally began to speak.

"I met her after I ran away, actually I met her father first. Do you remember when I told you that I had been approached by a man in a black cloak who asked if I was your father and then went on to ask if there was any truth to him and your mother possibly bearing a future fulfillment to the prophecy? Well I would later find out that that man was Althalos Bloodworth, who would soon enough become my father-in-law. Not long after my run in with him I fled which is when I met my wife. After two months of a whirl wind lovers quarrel we eloped, which was so foolish of us both...but we were young and in love or at least I thought..."

Francis paused and sighed.

"I always knew there was something about her that was different than any other girl I ever fancied...she was broken and I think that I was so set on healing her wounds that I completely overlooked everything else about her. She came from a long line of evil and I honestly believed that she could be good, that she could be saved but sadly I was wrong and I found this out on the day that Cornelia was born. I automatically assumed that if I married her and took her away from her evil family that she would learn to see the good in life and in people and that we could live happily ever after."

He paused a moment.

"It didn't take me long to realize that she no longer loved me or that she might not have ever loved me and while that broke my heart I knew deep down that it was to be expected, but to see the defeated look on our children's faces when they'd run up to hug her and she'd just walk away and ignore them as though they didn't exist that _killed _me. They didn't ask to be born to a mother who couldn't love them...and deep down I want to believe that Jessica wanted to love them but I don't think she really cared. Which just goes to show that sometimes evil in the blood is thicker than any kind of love. When I saw that our children couldn't even save her that's when I knew that she was truly gone. She never had a chance. Bloodworth's are all evil, they all either end up in Azkaban or serving Voldemort."

Neville remained silent and saw that tears were threatening to spill out of his uncle's eyes.

"I worry about what the lack of a mother figure has done to my children...I tried the best I could to raise them on my own but sometimes I wonder if it was ever enough...I wonder if they blame me for their mother being unable to love them..."

Neville scooted his chair closer and grabbed his uncle's hand.

"It's not your fault," he replied firmly, looking him straight in the eye.

Francis forced a tiny smile.

"I'm afraid it is Neville...I should have known better than to get involved with her..."

"You were young and in love. A lot of people do stupid things when they are in love. You had no idea she was going to turn out the way she did and I'm sure that if you had known you would have run like hell. True love knows no boundaries and even though she may not love you or Nellie and Maitland...you can still love her because no matter what she is their mother and nothing will change that. In fact, if you hated her then that would mean you hated them in a way, because she is in their blood. You can't blame yourself for the way she turned out, she _chose_ that life for herself and for her to turn her back on you and her own children is cowardly. All that matters is that you are there for them and they will remember that. And as for her you need to let her go and forgive her."

"You are very wise beyond your years you know that?"

Neville shrugged.

"She was so beautiful," continued Francis, "I just could never fully grasp how someone so beautiful could be so _evil_...how someone so beautiful could bring two beautiful people into this world and not love them from the moment they came out of her womb..."

Neville sat and thought about what his uncle had just told him. He could never imagine a parent not loving their own child- their own _flesh and blood_. He knew that even his parents, had they been given the chance, would have loved him if they were not in their current state. His heart sank for Nelie and Maitland.

"I used to tell the kids after they got a little older that their mum was _working _and that even though she never visited or wrote that she still loved them and that no matter what one day we would all be a family again...but I could see it in both of their eyes that they knew I was lying and it destroyed me."

A moment of silence passed.

"What happened to her?" asked Neville softly.

Francis sighed.

"I don't know...she left us on Cornelia's sixth birthday. She's probably either dead, in Azkaban or running around with the other Death Eaters."

"Was she a Death Eater when you married her?"

"Yes but I thought I could save her."

"Wow," replied Neville. "I-I really don't know what else to say."

"It's alright Neville no one usually does."

"Is Alvalos still alive?"

"I believe he is," replied Francis darkly.

"Why do you think he's appearing in the visions I've been having?"

"I honestly wish I could say..." his uncle answered.

Neville pulled out the black leather bound book from the restricted section and held it up for Francis to see.

"Hermione found this in the restricted section...but we couldn't open it. It needs to be opened with a key but there wasn't one with it."

Francis took the book from Neville and began to examine it.

"There's only one key that will open this book Neville," began Francis slowly.

"_The_ key? The one that Voldemort wants?"

Francis nodded.

"I knew it!" exclaimed Neville. "When I saw that book I just had a _feeling_."

"I'd know the shape of that key anywhere," continued Francis.

"W-what exactly is the purpose of the key?" asked Neville.

Francis looked up and observed his nephew for a moment before answering.

"Well it most certainly isn't for anything good," he began, getting distracted with the book.

"I-I don't understand...why couldn't Hermione and I find any references to the key in the restricted section?"

"All references to the key are kept locked up in the Ministry of Magic which is why it was attacked recently. Death Eaters were trying to find that information."

Neville nodded it was all starting to make sense now.

"Any idea of where it might be?"

"Neville I wish I knew...but all I know is that it must be found before Voldemort gets to it."

"Francis...could I ask you a favor?"

"What?"

"Well...i-if it isn't too much to ask could you show me a few of your memories..."

"Oh Neville I really don't think now is the best time. We're all tired and need to be getting back-"

"_Please_? I'm finally starting to get some answers and I-I...it would just mean a lot to me. It would help me out a lot."

Francis gave a deep sigh.

"Alright Neville but then after that we are going back to Hogwarts. Understood?"

Neville jumped out of his seat to hug his uncle.

"Thank you!"

Francis stood up and Neville followed him upstairs where they found Sirius telling Harry, Nelie and Maitland stories of his years at Hogwarts.

"Excuse me Sirius? Sorry to interrupt but do you happen to have a pensieve here? Neville wants me to show him a few things."

Sirius got up and walked over to them.

"Neville...don't you think it is kind of late? I think you should wait and have Albus show you."

"No," replied Neville firmly. "I've waited long enough and I'm finally starting to get some answers and I am _not_ going to stop now."

Sirius stared hard at the boy until a small grin finally began to spread across his face.

He placed a hand on Neville's shoulder.

"Finally starting to grow a backbone are we? You sound just like your father."

Neville blushed.

"Alright then. The pensieve is in the storage room. I'll have Kreacher take you to it."

Sirius stuck his head outside of the door and called for him.

A moment later the ugly little house elf appeared and bowed down before them, his old and wrinkled features twisted with annoyance.

"Yes master?"

"Take these two to the pensieve please and then you may continue with whatever it was you were doing."

Kreacher nodded and bowed once more and waved for Neville and Francis to follow him back downstairs.

He led them to the end of the long hallway and stopped in front of a large door.

"Here we are sirs. If you need anymore assistance Kreacher will be nearby."

They thanked him and walked inside.

"Lumos."

The light of their wands gave little light in the small pitch of dark space.

It was full of boxes and junk and there was barely any room to walk around.

"Here it is I found it," replied Neville.

They both crouched down beside it and Francis began twirling his wand in his hand nervously.

He cleared his throat.

"So what is it that you would like to see?"

Neville thought hard about this as not to leave anything out. He was hoping that some of his uncle's memories could help him piece together the missing parts of the puzzle and give him an idea of where the key might possibly be. Either way he was sure it would benefit him somehow.

"I'd like to see when my dad took you to see the fortune teller he wrote about in his journal, the first time you ever saw the key and the first time you met Althalos,"

Francis watched his nephew and nodded.

"Now Neville...I just want to warn you...you may see some things that you won't like and you may see a side of me that you don't like but just remember that this is all in the past. That is all I ask of you."

Neville nodded and watched as Francis brought his wand up to his temple and a thick, silvery thread came out, which he immediately put in the pensieve. He placed his wand back up to his temple and repeated the process two more times, placing the silvery threads in the pensieve one after the other.

"Alright Neville," began Francis, "whenever you are ready...they will all play out in order."

Neville stared into the pensieve, his stomach was doing flip flops.

"It's okay these are just memories nothing in them can harm you. I promise."

Neville nodded and placed his hands on either side of the pensieve.

He took a deep breath and stuck his head inside.

The next thing he knew he had the feeling of falling, he was plummeting so quickly that he closed his eyes and waited for impact but it never happened.

When Neville opened his eyes he found himself at Hogsmeade.

"Oy Frankie! Where ya been?"

Neville turned at the sound of his father's name and saw a tall, thick boy with blonde hair approaching a smaller boy with mousy brown hair that hung in his face.

"Have you seen my brother?" asked the smaller boy.

Neville walked up to the two boys and stared down at them.

The taller one came up just a little below his shoulders while the smaller one only came up to his chest.

He stared at the little brown haired boy and had to keep reminding himself that he was staring at his father at about eleven years old.

He had brown eyes and freckles, just like Neville. He also had the same slightly large ears Neville had once had at his age- thankfully though he had since grown into them- and the only thing different was that his father was thin, unlike the chunk he had been.

"Yeah he's over there," replied the blonde boy.

"Thanks."

His father broke out into a run and Neville ran after him until they reached another boy identical to his father, only his hair was neatly gelled and combed.

"Francis! Come quick! I've got to show you something!"

Neville watched his father grab Francis by the arm and they took off running.

Once again Neville followed them down a long path that led to a deserted alley.

"Frank what are you doing? You're going to get us lost!"

"It was right here! I swear it!"

"What was?"

"There was a tent _right_ here! There was an old witch inside and she knew my name!"

Young Francis stared at his brother and then to the spot where his brother claimed he saw a tent and then back to his brother.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes! I swear it was right here just a minute ago!"

Frank began pacing around the area searching for any indication that what he saw had been real.

"Uh Frank...I don't know about you but I'm going to head back...we're going to get in trouble."

"Would you stop worrying for a second and help me find her!"

"Maybe you just imagined it?"

"NO! I didn't! She was RIGHT here! I walked up and there was a large tent and this old witch came out and said "_Hello Frank, I've been expecting you_," she _knew_ my name Francis! And I'd never seen her before in my life! How do you explain that?"

"Maybe she's a friend of Professor Dumbledore's."

"Francis look...I know what I saw. You've got to believe me!"

"What did she say to you?"

"Well I walked up to her and she said _"Enjoy your youth and follow the path intertwined with the girl who blooms late and superior wit outshines, it will lead you on an adventure to protect the wonders of our world. You're future will be bleak and full of tragedy but you will father a son whose survival is key, he will be one of two who can banish the one we fear to see..."_ and then I asked her how she knew all of this and she didn't answer so that's when I ran back to find you. It was kind of scary...Should I write and tell mum?"

Francis watched his twin skeptically.

"If I had my say I'd bet she was crazy...and I wouldn't write mum, she'll think you're nuts."

"_Just like you do_..." mumbled Frank.

"No...I just find this all silly. C'mon let's go back now."

Frank stood with his shoulders slumped, a look of complete defeat on his face.

Neville had the urge to hug his father but had to remind himself that it was only a memory.

"What did she look like?" asked Francis. "If she were here...she couldn't have gone far."

"She had long, white hair and white skin. She also had a big, ugly nose and jagged yellow teeth but her eyes...one was completely white and the other was black..."

Francis frowned and Neville could tell by the look on his face that he didn't believe his father even for a second.

"Alright Frank...if I see her...I'll let you know."

"You don't believe me do you?" replied Frank sadly.

"Let's go back Frank."

"No you go ahead...I'll see you later."

Francis stood for a moment before finally turning and walking away.

Neville watched as his father stared sadly at the empty space before him.

Suddenly he felt himself being jerked, as if an invisible force had grabbed him and were pulling him away.

He was moving just as quickly as when he had first entered the pensieve and he was starting to feel queasy.

Once again he closed his eyes and when he opened them he found himself inside of someone's home.

It seemed to be rather cozy and it gave him a very happy feeling but he wasn't sure why.

He moved into the sitting room where he immediately recognized his uncle Francis, who looked to be about his current age.

Francis had been conversing with two people sitting on a couch.

Neville moved in closer and felt his heart leap when he realized that the people sitting on the couch were his parents.

He stared down at his parents. They were _normal._

They could speak and express emotion, something he had never been able to witness them do before.

Neville kneeled down in front of the couch so he could get a better look at them.

When he looked at his father he was shocked to discover how much he looked like him, from the thick, brown hair that curled at the ends to the freckles and even the thick black glasses he wore- now Neville realized why his gran had picked out his pair- and his mother, she was so beautiful. She had long blonde hair, blue eyes, rosy cheeks and dimples- which Neville figured is where he had inherited his from. She had a flower in her hair and was wearing a long summer dress while his father was simply in a dress shirt and brown slacks.

"What are we supposed to do with _this_?" asked his father sarcastically, holding up a long, thin box.

His mother gently took the box from his father and examined it.

"Albus wants us to keep it safe Frank...I know! I can put it up in the cupboard with all of my finest dishes...Merlin knows those never get touched."

"Does mum know about this nice little..._inheritance _we've received?" his father asked, looking up at Francis.

"Obviously," he replied. "Can I see it?"

Alice leaned forward and handed Francis the box.

Francis then sat down next to his brother and opened it, pulling out a very large key.

The key was black and rusted. It looked as though it were very old.

As Neville moved in to examine it closer he noticed that the shaft of the key had a red skull emblazoned on it.

"It looks like a skeleton key," replied Francis. "Did Albus say what it went to?"

Neville's father shook his head.

"He just said that it was important that we keep it safe..."

"Francis will you be joining us for dinner?"

"Thank you Alice but I actually have something I need to do."

"C'mon Francis stay and have dinner! Alice made plenty for all of us."

"I can't Frank maybe another time."

"_That's what you said last time_..." muttered Frank.

"I appreciate the offer but I must be going," Francis replied softly, the key still in his hand.

He stood up and began walking toward the door.

"Francis? The key..."

He turned around as Frank stood up.

"Oh how silly of me," he began. "I almost forgot I had it..."

He stared down at the key and began weighing it in his hand.

"A lot of people are after this key you know..." he continued.

Frank and Alice exchanged puzzled looks and turned to Francis.

"How do you know?" Frank asked, narrowing his eyes on his twin.

"Oh, uh just a feeling..."

"Sure you can't stay for dinner Francis?" asked Alice again.

"Yes. Well here you go," he replied reluctantly handing the key back to his brother.

"Francis just have dinner with us then you can go do whatever it is you need to do..."

"Frank I already said _no_," he began, his tone rising, "let's just leave it at that."

"What is it Francis? You too good to hang around with me now? That it?"

"No Frank. You're overreacting."

Suddenly Neville's father walked over to his brother, until their faces were only inches apart.

Neville quickly stood up and moved over to them.

"Look," began his father in a low voice, most likely so his mother wouldn't hear. "Whatever it is you are getting yourself into...just know that I've offered to help you. Those _people _that you call your friends, they're _scum_, they aren't good people Francis and I don't know what you see in them but the only thing they are going to do for you is get you into trouble. I'm going to tell you now, if you continue to choose these people over your family...then don't expect us to help you. Don't come running to me when you decide you want out."

Francis' eyes flashed.

"Oh don't worry," he began, "you're the _last _person I would come to."

Frank took a step back and glared at his brother.

"What is the matter with you? Why did you even come here tonight?"

When Francis didn't answer Frank continued.

"Look whatever you do on your own time is your business but when you are in_ my _house my wife and I deserve a little respect and whatever it is you are doing...make sure you leave us out of it."

Francis turned to leave but Frank suddenly grabbed his arm.

"Francis wait-"

Neville again walked over to them so he could hear.

"Look I'm sorry- sorry...I just don't know what's going on with you lately. Is it something _I _did? Mum and Dad are worried sick about you...they say you never visit anymore. Please you can talk to me. Alice and I...we can help you. If you're in trouble...you can stay with us but those- those _people _are bad Francis..._really_ bad I can sense it. Y-you haven't gone and done anything stupid have you?" finished Frank, reaching out to grab his brother's left arm, which was immediately yanked back by Francis.

"Good-bye Frank."

And with that Francis was gone.

Neville watched as his father returned to the couch to comfort his mother.

Soon enough he could feel himself being pulled again and this time he found himself in a dark alley, which he guessed to be knockturn alley by the looks of it.

He immediately saw Francis and began following him, once they were about to turn the corner a tall, dark figure emerged and cornered them both against the wall.

"Are you Frank Longbottom?"

Chills ran down Neville's back as the figure spoke, even though he now knew who the man was it was still frightening to be in his presence.

"No. Why do you ask? Who are you?"

"That my boy is none of your concern. Again I ask are you Frank Longbottom?"

"No. I'm his brother but we aren't close...we don't even speak."

Neville cringed as the dark figure let out a low, evil laugh that shook the ground beneath him.

"Very good," replied the cloaked man. "Now do Frank and his wife currently have any children?"

"No."

"Do you have reason to believe that they will soon bear a son who will fulfill a future prophecy?"

"Yes," answered Francis without hesitation.

The cloaked man laughed again, only this time his laugh was deeper and more sinister.

"Where are they? and _do not _lie to me."

Neville watched as Francis stood, grappling with whether or not he was going to give them away.

Suddenly the cloaked man grabbed Francis by the throat and shoved him against the wall, lifting his feet off the ground.

"ANSWER ME!"

Neville's brain shouted at him to do something but he had to again remind himself that it was only a memory and that there was nothing he could do.

Francis was struggling against the man but managed to choke out, "I...cannot...say anymore."

The cloaked figure let go of Francis and as he fell to the ground, he grabbed his wand and jabbed it right in the center of Francis' forehead.

"Consider this your lucky day...for your contributions I am going to let you live but tell no one of me! Or _I will_ find you and you will suffer a most horribly slow and torturous death...that is a promise."

The cloaked man snapped his fingers and was gone.

Once more Neville felt himself being pulled away only this time when he opened his eyes he was back in the storage room with Francis.

Before Neville could say anything Francis began to speak.

"My intentions that night when I was visiting your parents was to take the key and keep it for myself and it's a good thing I didn't because it would have undoubtedly ended up in the wrong hands had it been in my possession at that time but something kept me from taking it that night...to this day I'm still not sure what it was I felt but I'm glad that I gave it back to your father because otherwise..." he trailed off and sighed.

"I hope you got something out of this Neville," he continued, "as I've said before I'm not proud of my past but there is nothing I can do to change it. However, now my biggest fear is for my son...I'm so fearful of him falling down the same path I once did...but I have faith in him and know that he's smarter and more strong willed than I was...but it will never stop me from worrying."

"Thank you," began Neville. "I really appreciate you showing me these memories. They have helped me out _a lot_."

"I'm glad are you ready to head back to the castle now?"

"Yes."

Francis collected his memories and then he and Neville left the storage room and when they arrived in the entryway they found the others had been waiting for them.

"Ready Harry?"

They all said their goodbyes to Sirius, Nelie and Maitland and apparated back to the castle.

Once they were inside Neville thanked his uncle once more and he and Harry began walking back to their dorm.

Neville looked down at his pocket watch. It was almost eleven thirty.

"What did you see in the pensieve?" asked Harry curiously.

"Just a few of Francis' memories," he replied.

When they entered the dorm they both immediately changed into their pajamas, brushed their teeth and got into bed.

Neville pulled out his enchanted pad and began to write to Sirius:

_It's Trevor. We're in bed._

_Good. How did the pensieve work for you?_

_Fine. I saw everything I needed to._

_Albus will be back tomorrow morning. I already informed him of your dream and he wishes to speak with you when you wake up._

_Okay. Good Night._

_Good Night Trevor._

Neville placed the pad underneath his pillow and immediately fell asleep.

------

Neville had been the first to wake up. It was five minutes till six.

He slowly got out of bed and jumped in the shower.

When he reentered the dorm Ron had just woken up.

"Mornin'," mumbled Neville, still tired for whatever reason.

"Mornin'," answered Ron.

Neville put on his glasses, grabbed a clean uniform and closed the curtains surrounding his bed to change and was surprised to notice that his trousers were unusually loose.

He pulled at the waistband only to realize that they had become much too big.

He couldn't help but feel a high wave of achievement rush through him, although he couldn't walk around all day with his trousers in danger of falling down.

Neville stuck his head outside the curtains.

"Hey Ron," he called, "you wouldn't happen to have a belt would you?"

Ron wrinkled his nose and walked over to Neville.

"What do you need?"

Neville was about to answer but was shocked into silence as Ron pushed past Neville and closed the curtain behind him.

Neville awkwardly stood with one hand gripped on the top of his trousers and the other arm wrapped around his naked torso.

He could already feel the heat rushing to his cheeks.

"What did you say you need?" repeated Ron.

"A belt..." mumbled Neville.

By now Ron had sat down on Neville's bed and had become distracted by the black leather bound book Neville had _borrowed _from the restricted section of the library.

"Wicked! What's this?" asked Ron incredulously.

"Uh n-nothing...just trying to catch up on some reading."

"This is definitely _not _nothing!"

"So have you got a belt?" asked Neville.

"What do you need a belt for?" asked Ron without looking up from the book.

Neville sighed.

"Do you have one or not?"

"No sorry."

After another minute of examining the book Ron finally looked up at Neville.

"_Whoa_," he replied.

"What?" asked Neville, beginning to grow slightly annoyed.

"Nothing...good luck on finding that belt mate."

After Ron exited the curtain Neville quickly threw on his shirt and by the time he pulled his curtains all the way back the others had started to wake up.

Neville decided rather than go through the humiliation of asking anyone else if they had a belt he'd just charm his pants so that they'd tighten on top.

He quickly greeted the rest of his dorm mates, grabbed his wand and took off.

Neville's thoughts were nagging at him to make a quick visit to the fitness center so he could weigh himself before he did anything else.

When he arrived he was immediately greeted.

"Hello Neville."

It was Parvati Patil who had just emerged from the pool.

"Hi Parvati. How are you?"

"Fine...talk to Lavender lately?"

"Er- no...I-I don't think she wants to talk to me right now."

"She's just sensitive. I'm sure if you talked to her she'd lighten up."

Neville stood there awkwardly, trying not to seem as though he were staring at her in her swimsuit.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked, as she began drying her long, black hair. "I'm usually the only one in here this early. I come in for a swim every morning."

"Er...I was just going to go check my weight."

"Oh," replied Parvati, as if she had been expecting a more interesting answer.

"Anyway I'll see you later," he replied.

"Bye."

He entered the locker room, walked straight to the scale and stepped on.

He adjusted the weights and was horrified when it read one hundred and fifty four pounds.

Neville's stomach fell.

That couldn't possibly be right, he'd just weighed himself a few days ago it had read one hundred and fifty pounds.

He stepped down, kicked off his shoes and stepped back on.

One hundred and fifty two pounds.

He still wasn't satisfied nor did he believe it was right.

He quickly stepped down again and proceeded to remove every article of clothing except for his boxers and once again stepped on and adjusted the weights until it finally read one hundred and forty eight pounds.

Neville breathed out a sigh of relief and stepped down so he could put his clothes back on.

_'You're getting closer...although that's still far from our goal. Focus and do not allow anyone to stand in our way. We can do this!'_

Neville quickly exited the fitness center and ran all the way to Dumbledore's office.

When he arrived Dumbledore's door was already open.

Neville stuck his head in.

"You wanted to see me sir?"

"Ah yes Mr. Longbottom. Please come in."

Neville entered, gently closed the door behind him and sat down.

"Would you like some tea and perhaps a muffin?"

For a moment Neville considered grabbing one as Dumbledore pushed a plate of them towards him. There was an assortment of blueberry, strawberry and cherry.

_'Don't do it. You'll set yourself back so far if you do. Muffins are pure fat- sludge! And we don't want to be putting that into our body do we?'_

"No thanks."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be in attendance during last night's order meeting," began Dumbledore softly, his blue eyes twinkling, "as you know Professor Snape and I were out on official order business. He has still not returned so you and Harry won't be having a session with him tonight. I will be sure to keep you posted upon his return."

Neville silently rejoiced.

"So tell me all about this dream you had the other night."

"Well," began Neville, "In it...I-I was running from someone and then I heard a voice- Althalos shouting that I h-had the key and then Voldemort appeared..." Neville paused and continued. "H-he told me all he wanted was the key and that he wouldn't hurt me...a-and he told me he could use someone like me. Then this bright light erupted a-and as quickly as Voldemort had showed up h-he was gone just like that. Then this voice began to recite the prophecy in its entirety. I-I wish I could remember it but I just can't...all I know is that the second part of it was referring to me."

Dumbledore remained silent but nodded.

"Indeed my boy," he replied softly, "for almost twenty years no one ever had any knowledge of there being more to the prophecy. I only discovered this three years after your birth."

"S-should I be worried about these visions?"

"It all depends," began Dumbledore thoughtfully, "on how you choose to view them."

"What exactly do you mean professor?"

"If you choose to see them as a threat then you may worry but if you choose to see them as a a tool then you may use them."

Neville thought for a moment.

Dumbledore always seemed to have a way with words that never made sense until after the fact.

"I had my uncle show me a few of his memories in Sirius' pensieve last night," blurted Neville.

"I see," began the aging wizard, "may I ask what it is you chose to see?"

"Well a couple of nights ago I read a strange entry in my dad's old journal from when he was attending school here and one day he claimed to have seen an old fortune telling witch just outside of Hogsmeade who knew who he was and told him that he'd have a son who could help defeat the dark lord and when he went to get Francis and show him she was gone. Then I had him show me the first time he ever saw the key that keeps being mentioned in my visions and then the first time he ever met Althalos Bloodworth."

"Very interesting choice of memories Mr. Longbottom."

"I-It's a relief to finally know what that key looks like and to realize that I wasn't just imagining it all," he started hesitantly. "However, professor I must ask...do you have any idea of who this old witch my father encountered may be? He described her as having long white hair, a white face, jagged yellow teeth and one white eye and one black."

Dumbledore's blue eyes continued to twinkle and he sat watching the young boy through his half-moon spectacles.

"Sir?"

"I do apologize Mr. Longbottom," he began, "my mind wandered for a moment. I do know who she is- her name is Maven Carling."

Neville made a mental note of this.

"Also professor...I-I know you said that Harry and I are not to leave the premesis unless you say otherwise b-but I was wondering i-if an exception could possibly be made?"

"Go on," replied the professor.

"Well...I-I was planning to begin searching for the key during Christmas break...but I-I was wondering if possibly I could have an early start. I-I could take my mid-terms early and have an entire extra week to begin."

Dumbledore remained silent so Neville continued.

"Since it was placed into my parents possession before...before they were attacked I feel as though it is my responsibility to help search for it. _I'm_ _ready_ professor."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled even more as he observed the younger wizard before him and a small smile crossed his face.

"You have truly grown into a fine young wizard Mr. Longbottom," began the older wizard softly, "right before my very eyes."

"T-thank you professor."

"You show great promise and admiration but I am afraid I can not let you do this."

"Professor please! Please just...give me a chance. I-I've learned a lot from my sessions with Francis and Snape and I feel as though I'm ready to go out there and face whatever comes my way. I-I just I'm tired of hiding professor- I've been afraid my _entire _life- of what lurks in the shadows, the unknown, _Voldemort_, _Professor Snape_ even my own shadow and pretty much anything else- you name it I was afraid of it and I'm tired of running from my fear. I'm ready to run towards it."

Dumbledore's smile grew wider and he nodded.

"You are very noble and I am afraid that part of your fear is my fault Mr. Longbottom. Ever since you were born I've put too much effort into protecting you and sheltering you from what is to be your fate. Whereas with Harry he was just pushed right into this without a choice. Mr. Longbottom if this is what you wish to do then I will not stop you."

Neville's face lit up.

"Oh professor thank you!"

"However," Dumbledore began, "I must suggest that you do not go alone."

"I won't. I'm sure my cousins will be glad to come with me."

Dumbledore nodded.

"I will be sure to inform all of your professors of your decision and from there it will be arranged for you to take your mid-terms within the next week or so. Will you be ready?"

"I'll have to be."

Suddenly Dumbledore brought his hands up to his desk and clasped them together and the twinkle in his eyes began to fade.

"Mr. Longbottom if you do not mind my asking is there by chance anything else that might be troubling you?"

Neville was rather taken back by the question and sat staring back at him dumbfounded for a moment.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," he answered.

Dumbledore gave a simple nod and did not press the issue any further.

"Very well Mr. Longbottom unless there is anything else you may join the others for breakfast."

"No there isn't. Thank you professor."

------

Breakfast had gotten off to a rather uneventful start.

Neville sat farther down the table away from everyone else so he could have a little privacy and simply stared down at his food, poking at it while he waited for Ginny to arrive.

He looked up and saw Parvati whispering to Lavender and a moment later she scooted down until she was across from Neville.

"I accept your apology," she replied with a wide grin.

Neville stared at her stunned.

He hadn't recalled apologizing to her. He looked over at Parvati who looked back at him guiltily before quickly turning away.

"Er alright..."

"I'm sorry too," she began, ignoring her food to stare at Neville as she played with her hair. "So...do you want to give it another go?"

"Give what another go?" he asked.

"_Us _silly."

"Oh uh Lavender...I uh..."

"Hello Neville."

He looked up to see that Ginny had finally arrived.

She sat down next to him and apparently had heard Lavender's last comment because the first thing she did was kiss him on the cheek.

Lavender's mouth fell open and she glared at Ginny.

"Excuse me but we were having a conversation."

"Oh well pardon me," Ginny began with a smirk. "I didn't realize that you were the queen of the table. Don't mind me- go on."

Lavender looked at Neville who shrugged.

Her face began to twist into a pout.

"_Neville_," she began in a whiny voice. "Tell Ginny that she's being rude. She interrupted us on purpose, she doesn't own you you know."

Lavender then turned to Ginny and repeated herself.

"You don't _own him _you know."

"Neither do _you_," snapped Ginny.

"I know that!" Lavender retorted angrily.

By now the other gryffindors had begun to stop and look down the table to see what all the commotion was about.

Neville sunk down into his seat and squeezed his eyes shut.

"If you and Neville have something to discuss then go ahead. I'm not going to stop you."

"It's a _private matter_," began Lavender through clenched teeth. "If you could just leave his side for _one second _then maybe I'd actually be able to talk to him! I mean it's not as if you two are dating."

"Actually _we are_," answered Ginny rather loudly. "So anything you need to say to Neville you can say to me too."

Neville felt the blush hit his cheeks at full speed and he was absolutely mortified.

He was terrified to open his eyes in fear of everyone staring at him and when he finally did his fears had proven true.

Lavender was staring at him, her mouth open and her eyes wide with tears.

"You lied to me!" she accused him. "Why didn't you tell me you and Ginny were dating?!"

Neville sunk even lower.

"Because _for one_ it's none of your business," Ginny cut-in, answering for him, "_and two_ Neville didn't lie to you about anything! You just assumed that he wanted to date you when he never had any intention of doing so! _And three_ you want to know why you can't keep a boyfriend? Because you are a shallow, loud, needy and ANNOYING airhead who wouldn't know the first thing about getting a boy's attention in the proper way if it appeared to you in the latest issue of TeenWitch Weekly! Right Ron?"

The entire gryffindor table had fallen silent and Neville stared down the other end of the table and sure enough all eyes were on them but most prominently was Dean, who had been glaring at Neville and Ginny so ferociously that Neville actually feared that he was attempting to telepathically hex them both.

Lavender burst into tears and ran out of the great hall and Parvati immediately jumped up and ran after her.

It took a few moments for things to go back to normal but Neville was still absolutely mortified.

"Merlin she's annoying!" exclaimed Ginny. "You don't think I was too hard on her do you?"

Neville looked at Ginny with wide eyes.

"Ginny she ran out in hysterics! Now she's going to have a death wish out for both of us!"

Ginny sighed.

Neville and Ginny both looked up to see that Ron had been flashing her a thumbs up sign until Hermione noticed and whacked him on the back of his head.

"Well...that pretty much killed my appetite," mumbled Neville pushing his untouched plate away.

"I'm sorry," replied Ginny guiltily, "I guess I just let my jealousy get the best of me...now I actually feel bad."

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to," Neville reminded her softly.

Ginny groaned and placed her head on the table.

Neville awkwardly wrapped an arm around her and looked around only to see that the others were watching them again.

"Want to get out of here?" he whispered.

"Yes!" she hissed.

They both stood up and walked out.

Neville looked down at his pocket watch. There were still about another fifteen minutes left until breakfast ended and then he'd have to go to his session with Francis.

"We've got fifteen minutes to kill," replied Neville. "What do you want to do?"

They ended up in the room of requirement for another snog session, with which Neville wasn't going to complain. He loved kissing Ginny, he just wasn't so sure he was as pleasant to kiss.

"I wish you didn't have to go..." replied Ginny, as she twirled his hair around her fingers.

"Me too," he answered.

"This is nice..." she continued. "I love spending time with you Neville."

"I'm glad."

"Can I ask you something though?" she began cautiously, sitting up further so she could observe him. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm with you why wouldn't I be?" he replied with a smile.

Ginny smiled, although it was a sad smile.

"I just get the feeling that something is going on with you that you aren't telling me...I'm worried about you. I mean when I'm with you you're here obviously in a physical sense but your mind always seems to be elsewhere..."

"Just usually got a lot on my mind," he murmured.

"You can tell me..." she coaxed.

"I will," he assured her with a kiss.

Ginny gently pulled away and stared hard at him.

"I mean it Neville...I can't help but notice that you've been losing a lot of weight lately. It can't be healthy..."

"Well I can't help that," he began. "When I'm stressed my body goes haywire."

"_I talked to Myrtle yesterday_..." started Ginny with a whisper.

"You did?"

"Yes..."

"And what did she say?"

When Ginny didn't answer right away Neville moved himself away from her.

He stared at her but she wouldn't look at him.

"Ginny what did she tell you?"

"I don't want you to get upset at me."

"I won't Ginny. I promise I just have to know..."

Ginny sighed and finally looked at him.

"She told me you used to go in the prefect's washroom and make yourself sick..._a lot_."

Neville was at a loss for words and he just stared at her dumbfounded.

"Is this true Neville?"

He didn't want to lie to her but he didn't want her to know the truth either.

"_Neville_?" she asked again gently.

"Do you believe her?" he asked firmly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm asking _you _Neville."

"Yeah but it won't matter what I tell you if your mind is already made up."

She sighed.

"Should I believe her?"

"Look...Ginny I-I used to...be a little nervous during meal times and my stomach just couldn't handle it...but this was last year. It's not a big deal."

"It _is_ a big deal Neville," she argued, "you were making yourself sick on purpose...and you _still _do."

"No I don't!"

"_Don't lie_ Neville," she started, her tone rising. "Dean's seen you...Ron's seen you..."

"Well they were highly mistaken," he began, his tone lowering dangerously. "They don't know what they saw."

He began to clench and unclench his fists. Things had been going perfectly until Ginny decided to ruin it with questions and accusations. He could feel himself growing angry, an emotion he had never felt while around Ginny before.

_'She's trying to ruin you...don't let her!'_

"Look I don't want to upset you because that's the last thing I want to do but I do think maybe you should talk to someone about this."

"Ginny I'm fine can we _please _drop it?" he replied through clenched teeth.

"But-"

"No!" He snapped, standing up as Ginny watched him with alarm. "Whatever you've heard...just _forget _it. If you want to know something next time rather than go behind my back you can come to _me_!"

"Neville I'm sorry..."

He stood with his back turned to her, just a few feet away from the door.

Finally Ginny stood up and slowly approached him.

"I apologize," she began slowly. "I shouldn't have gone behind your back but it's just I want you to talk to me..."

"I already told you I would."

"Alright then," she replied sadly.

They both left and walked back down the stairs in silence and then went their separate ways.

------

"Hello boys sorry I'm late," replied Francis as he rushed inside his office. "You both wouldn't mind if Cornelia and Maitland sit in on today's session would you?"

Neville and Harry both shook their heads and Francis motioned for them both to enter.

"Alright so today I thought it would be fun to have ourselves a little duel over what we have learned are you both up for it?"

They both nodded and Francis grinned.

"Excellent. Well let's head up to the room of requirement then."

If Neville would have known they were going to be in the room of requirement he wouldn't have left.

When they walked inside Ginny's concerned and hurt voice began to replay in his head.

He couldn't believe the things she had been accusing him of. It was none of her business!

_'She's catching on to us...you need to throw her off our trail before she suspects further! She doesn't like me...she wants you for herself which means I'll have to go and you don't want that do you? We make such a good team you and I. I can do things for you that she can't...'_

"Alright so who would like to duel first?" asked Francis, observing the four young people before him.

"I'll have a go," offered Nelie, twirling her wand and tossing it up in the air.

"Very good and who would like to duel with Cornelia?"

Neville stood there completely oblivious to anything that was happening. He wasn't listening to a word anyone was saying, his body went numb and he was simply stuck in the past with what had just occurred with Ginny.

He wouldn't be surprised if she hated him now. He could not believe he had raised his voice to her and snapped at her. His insides began to churn with disgust and guilt at the way he had just treated her.

_'She was asking for it...you know I'm right! She doesn't know what she's talking about! You need to let her go...she isn't good for you. She's only going to try and control you and tell you to get rid of me...I know you don't want that! She's the one who needs to go...'_

The only thing he could see was her sad face staring at him. He hated it when she was sad and he had been the one to make her sad.

"Neville are you alright?"

He felt someone place a hand on his shoulder, it was Francis.

"Yeah- s-sorry, just got a little caught up in something."

Harry and Nelie had already begun dueling.

"LEGITIUMS APERIO!"

Suddenly a thick, white jet of light expelled from Nelie's wand and hit Harry directly in the stomach and he was immediately thrown backwards at such a speed that he had momentarily been knocked unconscious. He immediately jumped up, blocked her next attack and shot one back at her.

"TORPEO!"

Nelie easily blocked it and sent it directly back to him which he blocked.

Neville watched them and hoped that they would continue to duel for as long as possible. He simply wasn't up for any sort of a challenge at the moment.

"Good one Harry!" called Francis with awe as he finally managed to hit Nelie with a spell.

Rather than pay attention to the duel Neville's mind was overflowing with ways to make his awful behavior up to Ginny. What would he say to her? There was no excuse for the way he had went off on her. He was beginning to feel sick to his stomach. He couldn't figure out what had caused him to snap, it wasn't like him. He hoped she would forgive him but also he would completely understand if she didn't. She made him happy and having her in his life- no matter how much chaos it happened to be in- she lessened the chaos and brought him something he hadn't had in a long time, love and acceptance. She was his companion who he could trust with anything, who made him feel like the most important person in the room even though he wasn't. He loved her and wanted to be with her forever and for all he knew he had just blown his chances of that ever happening.

"Neville? It's your turn to duel Cornelia," replied his uncle.

"I-I'm sorry..." sputtered Neville, "I-I've forgotten something. I-I can't do this right now!"

And with that he quickly ran out, leaving the others behind to exchange puzzled glances.

------

Neville had to find Ginny. He wouldn't be able to focus on anything until he made things right with her.

He had just checked the astronomy tower and was about to go to the common room until someone had called his name.

It was Hermione.

"Why aren't you at your session? What's wrong?" she asked. "You look...worried."

"I need to find Ginny," he replied out of breath. "Have you seen her?"

"She's talking to Dean."

Neville's heart sank.

"What's going on?" asked Hermione again.

"Nothing," he muttered, "if you see Ginny tell her I need to talk to her."

"Did you two have a fight? She looked quite upset when I saw her..."

"Er...sort of...rather a disagreement I'd say."

"Well it'll blow over I'm sure. Ginny's had her fair share of fights with Dean so she knows how to handle herself. I'd just give her a little time to cool off."

Neville sighed.

"Oh before I forget," began Hermione, looking around to make sure they were alone. "Actually let's go into the common room to talk."

As soon as they entered she continued.

"I went back into the library and was able to find an old printed document of that key you were talking about. At least I think this is it."

"Really?" asked Neville excitedly, his mood immediately lifting.

Hermione nodded.

"But...Francis told me last night that all references are being kept locked up in the Ministry of Magic..."

"Well apparently someone forgot this one," she began, "and it's not an _official_ document. It had been copied and it looks as if it's been looked at a lot...it's very old and worn and there are a few words that can't be made out."

"Where did you find it?" asked Neville incredulously, as they both sat down on the couch.

Hermione suddenly began to blush and gently cleared her throat.

"In the storage room...I borrowed Harry's invisibility cloak and snuck inside. It took me nearly two hours before I discovered it. It had fallen behind one of the shelves and I spotted it and wanted to see what it was. However, I'm not sure if it's what you were looking for so here have a look."

Hermione handed him a single wrinkled parchment that had thinned and yellowed with time.

It read as follows:

_It is believed that Lucob Blydlliss, the forefather of wizardry, held in his possession a key believed to contain significant powers that are transferred over to the holder of the key, which in case for many years he was the sole owner. According to legend it was created by Lucob himself and enchanted for the purpose of safely locking away his memories inside of Mindossanya's Well, named after his late daughter. It is mentioned that Lucob had originally intended the well to hold only good memories of his late wife and daughter but wizards and witches from all over came to him after hearing rumors of the magic well wanting to see it and from then on he left it open to the public. Before his death he passed the key on to his brother who kept it in his possession until his death, after that the whereabouts of the key were unknown and it soon became the most sought after item by wizards of all kinds. Its magic is believed to be so powerful that if any one person has it for too long that it will begin to slowly take over the owner until eventually their souls become trapped within the key itself- which is why some believe the key is even more powerful than it was during its creation. According to legend many dark wizards have become prisoners of the key, which gives the impression that the next holder of the key will begin to take on evil characteristics of the trapped wizards. _

Neville felt his stomach flutter.

"This is it..." he replied softly.

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked.

"Yes. Now I need to go find out more about Lucob and this key..."

"I already have," she began quickly. "He was believed to have been the first wizard and after he and his family were shunned from their community they moved out to the country away from everyone else and soon after his daughter died. He built a well in his backyard which he named after his daughter and he began to use it as a pensieve, storing away all of his memories of her in there to keep them safe. After his wife died he decided that he would put all of his memories of her in the well also but he needed a way of protecting those memories so he created a key. The key was enchanted by him to where whoever holds the key is the only one who can open up the well and release the memories, which in case for a long time was himself. When other wizards and witches began to hear of this supposed magic well they flocked to his property and asked if they could keep their memories in it too and eventually he opened it to the public, to where they could come and place their most cherished memories into the well for safe keeping. Well, eventually as time moved on people began to abuse the purpose of the well and began placing bad memories into the well and as more and more people began doing this the well began to take on a whole new purpose. Rather than a place of happiness it quickly accumulated into becoming a place for fear and evil. Which is the reason why so many wizards are seeking the key, whoever has possession of the key has control over not only the contents of the well but can release the souls of the wizards who have been trapped inside the key."

Neville sat staring at Hermione in amazement and horror.

"Oh my god..." he began. "No wonder Voldemort wants the key! He'll have control over the entire wizarding world!"

Hermione nodded slowly.

Neville's head fell into his hands and he groaned.

"I _have_ to find this key!"

"You need to go to Dumbledore..."

The puzzle was surely but slowly starting to be pieced together but there were still too many pieces missing.

"I've seen it at least so I know what it looks like now."

"How?" she asked.

"I had Francis show me a few of his memories...I-I've got a lot to do plus I've got to study for mid-terms. I don't know how I'm going to get all of this accomplished with so little time..."

"Well I can help you study," she offered, "and anything else you need help with."

"I'm taking them early," he began quietly, "so I can get a head start looking for the key."

Hermione's brow set and her face fell.

"Neville...this could be dangerous. You can't go alone."

"I know...I'm going to have Nelie and Maitland go with me but Dumbledore already gave me permission."

"But are they qualified enough? What if you all get into trouble...I think it would be wise to have someone older and more experienced with you as well. You have no idea what you'll be up against."

"I know," replied Neville solemnly.

"Does Harry know?"

"I haven't told him yet."

"I imagine he'll want to go with you."

Neville nodded.

"I'll need all the help I can get."

------

On his way back from Herbology Neville saw Ginny walking down the corridor and ran up to her.

"Ginny! Hey...I uh want to apologize...about earlier."

"It's alright Neville."

"No- no it isn't. I um shouldn't have gone off on you like that...I felt awful about it all day. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted."

Neville's chest immediately began to untighten and he smiled.

"So what can I do to make it up to you? You name it."

"Can we go to Hogsmeade after dinner?"

"Sure."

Ginny smiled and grabbed hold of his hand.

"So Dean and I have made up..." she began. "He approached me earlier and said that he didn't want us to be on bad terms and that he was happy for us."

"Really?"

Ginny nodded.

Neville felt relieved to know that Dean hadn't attempted to get back together with her.

"You alright?" she asked. "You seem a bit tense."

"Yeah...just have been having kind of a rough day."

"Anything I can do?" she asked. "I can give you a massage."

"Actually you can come to the greenhouse with me and keep me company."

"I'd love to."

------

By the time they left the greenhouse it was lunch time and Neville invited Ginny to have lunch with him and his family at Hagrid's.

"It was really nice of you to invite me Neville."

Neville smiled and they walked hand in hand from the greenhouse to Hagrid's hut.

"Why hallo thar Ginny! Good ter see ye. How are ye parents?"

"Hi Hagrid, it's good to see you too. They are fine."

"Hi Ginny," greeted Nelie, pulling a chair out for her. "We're glad to have you join us."

Ginny took a seat next to Nelie and Neville sat down next to her.

"So what was wrong with you earlier?" asked Nelie as he sat down. "You just ran out on us."

"Yeah...I uh, had something I needed to do," he replied lamely.

"You missed a bloody good time," added Maitland, "our our dad even joined in on the dueling."

"Where is Francis?" asked Neville.

"He'll be here in a little bit," answered Nelie. "So how are you both?"

"Good," they replied.

"How are things at Sirius'?" asked Neville.

"Oh things are good," began Nelie, "although he had us up all night laughing with crazy stories of him and his friends. Yeah we figured that while we were here collecting the rest of our luggage we'd pay Hagrid, you and our dad a visit before we headed back."

"Alrigh' kids I hope yer fine eatin' rooke pie cus tha's wha' I made fer lunch."

"Oh we love rooke pie!" exclaimed Nelie. "Don't we Maitland?"

"Good I'm glad er, I sup'ose we best wait fer yer father eh?"

"Who cares!" replied Maitland. "We're starved!"

Hagrid let out a low belly laugh.

"Ah I hope Sirius knows ter feed ye two e'ry coupl'a hours. Ye both seem ter eat more than me boy Fang 'ere!"

"We've always had big appetites," announced Nelie proudly, "we just can't eat enough!"

Neville observed his cousins and suddenly felt a wave of jealousy rush through him. Well they were _definitely_ Longbottoms alright considering Longbottoms loved to eat but yet they were both thin and had probably never worried about their weight in their life. He wished that he could be the same way.

About five minutes later Francis entered the hut.

"Hello all looks as though I'm just in time for lunch."

"Hi dad! Look Hagrid's made us rooke pie," replied Nelie.

"Wonderful! Oh hello Neville, Ginny. How lovely of you to join us."

"Sorry about earlier," began Neville sheepishly, "I uh, just happened to remember something that I needed to do."

"It's alright," his uncle replied with a grin, "only that's your one free pass. You missed quite the dueling session."

"Alrigh' ev'ry 'un dig in!" replied Hagrid as he set down an enormous plate in the center of the table. There were about ten pieces of rooke on the plate along with green beans, potato wedges, slices of beef and a ton of chips.

Just the sight of all that food made Neville's stomach churn and he simply stared at it as everyone else began to fill their plates and eat.

"Neville are you alright?" asked Ginny.

"Yeah I'm fine...just feeling a bit queasy."

Neville forced himself to grab a few of the side foods but decided he would avoid the rooke at all costs. He could see the grease glistening and pooling underneath from where he sat and it was bad enough that the smell of it alone made him want to leave the hut.

"Wha'sa mat'er Neville?" asked Hagrid through a mouthful of food, "Ye don' like rooke?"

"Oh uh...no it's not that I just uh don't have much of an appetite right now."

"Dad Sirius says that he talked to Dumbledore and that he's going to consider letting us join the order!" exclaimed Nelie, barely able to contain her excitement. "He wants to meet with us!"

"That's splendid Cornelia, truly great news."

"That's really cool," replied Ginny, "I wish I could be a member of the order. My mum and dad and three of my brothers are members."

As soon as Ginny had mentioned her brothers Nelie set her fork down and focused on Ginny.

"They're quite charming," she began with a slight blush creeping up her cheeks. "Especially Charlie..."

Ginny smirked.

"You might not think that if you'd been forced to grow up with him. I've got six brothers and they're all right prats in their own way."

They all, including Maitland were so busy chatting amongst each other that no one had noticed that Neville was slipping his uneaten food under the table to Fang, who had seated himself next to Neville begging for more.

"You alright?"

Neville looked up to see Ginny glancing worriedly at him.

"You haven't said much."

"Just tired," he replied.

"Well at least you've eaten a little bit," she continued. "That should give you some energy to get through the rest of the day."

Neville nodded and was immediately wracked with guilt.

He cleared his throat and looked up at everyone.

"There's something I'd like to uh, tell all of you..."

He waited until all eyes were on him and took a deep breath. He decided that now was as good a time as any to tell them all about what he had discussed with Dumbledore earlier.

"I spoke with Professor Dumbledore earlier today and uh I've come to the decision that I'm going to be leaving a week early over the break so I can begin looking for the key."

At this Nelie and Maitland looked at their father who was staring at Neville, his mouth open with surprise.

"Dumbledore approved of this?" asked Francis incredulously.

Neville nodded.

"Well at first he didn't but...I-I managed to convince him that it's my duty to find that key before Voldemort does...and he told me he wasn't going to stop me."

"Neville," began Francis, his tone low, "this is very dangerous. I don't like the idea much at all."

"I wouldn't go alone," began Neville hurriedly, "a-and I think I've learned enough with you and with Snape to know how to defend myself if something should happen. I-I'm ready to go out there and face whatever comes my way. I'm tired of hiding and my destiny is to find that key."

Francis said nothing.

"We'll go with you Neville," offered Nelie. "Maitland and I could use a bit of an adventure."

Ginny watched Neville sadly but also said nothing.

"I should be taking my mid-terms soon and then I'm going to start my search."

Finally Francis spoke.

"You all will need to be accompanied by an adult."

"What do you think we are!" exclaimed Maitland, who had clearly been offended.

"I mean an _experienced_ adult who has dealt with the dangers that will be involved in this journey."

"Then why don't you come with us dad?" asked Nelie.

"Neville," began Ginny in a sad whisper, "what about coming to meet my family over the break? I've already told them about you..."

"Don't worry Ginny I'll still find time to come and meet them. I promise."

She gave him a satisfied smile and squeezed his hand underneath of the table.

"We'll discuss this further after I consult Albus," stated Francis firmly, "but if we are to do this you will all have to abide by the rules."

"Rules? Dad you're kidding?" replied Maitland. "This isn't a game...do you think Voldemort plays by rules? We shouldn't have any!"

"That's exactly right son, this _isn't _a game which is why you are all going to have to cooperate. I've seen and experienced things that the average wizard has not."

Maitland rolled his eyes.

A few moments of silence passed when Nelie spoke.

"Your brother Charlie wouldn't happen to have a girlfriend would he?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" replied Ginny.

"I don't want him to think I'm desperate..."

Ginny giggled.

"He's used to it," she continued, "he has girls practically throwing themselves all over him all the time, nothing phases him anymore."

"Cornelia," began Francis warily, "I should think you have more important things to be worrying about than boys?"

She blushed.

"I was just curious..." she muttered.

"Hagrid, thank you so much for lunch. It was quite filling."

"Ar don' mention it like I bin sayin' I enjoy ter cook."

The rest of them thanked Hagrid for lunch and said their good-byes before parting ways.

"I really like your family Neville," began Ginny as they made their way back to the castle. "Thank you for inviting me."

"Thank you for coming."

"So when will I get to meet your gran?"

"Donno," he replied honestly, "I'll have to tell her about you first."

"I wish you'd let someone else go look for that key," she began softly, "it sounds really dangerous."

"I _have_ to Ginny."

She sighed and stopped walking.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"Nothing," she replied, "I just...nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Look I need to get to Charms. Are we still on for Hogsmeade after dinner?"

"You bet."

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist in a tight hug.

"See you later," she replied after planting a quick kiss on his cheek.

As soon as Ginny had gone Neville decided to go to the library before his next class to see if he could find any information on the old, fortune telling witch, Maven Carling, that his dad had written about in his journal.

He went to the personal records and began searching first in the Cs and then the Ms and was disappointed when he came up empty handed.

Neville decided he'd just have to wait and ask Dumbledore about her the next time he saw him.

------

"Oy, Neville wake up mate!"

Someone had been shaking him. It was Ron.

Neville sat up and looked around groggily.

"You've been asleep. Dinner's already begun but Ginny wanted me to come up and get you."

Neville looked at his pocket watch. It was 8:15.

"Oh no! I slept through Posions!"

The last thing Neville had remembered was being in the library and then coming up to the dorm.

"That's not good mate," replied Ron. "At least Snape's not here...he'd have you hung up by your thumbs. So are you coming down or what?"

"Yeah just give me a minute."

Ron left and Neville slowly got up and began pacing around his bed.

How could he have just fallen asleep like that and miss class?

He had been gradually growing weaker but he was so busy and his mind swarming with so much that he never really acknowledged it. He knew that his body was definitely going to pay the price of his hectic schedule but it couldn't be helped.

_'As long as you are thin it will be alright. There is nothing better than that!'_

When he arrived at the table Ginny looked up at him.

"You_ must _have been tired...Harry and Ron both tried waking you up multiple times."

Neville sat down next to her and grabbed a dinner roll, slowly biting into it.

"Feel better now after a nap?" she asked.

"Yeah."

He poked and picked at his food without actually eating it.

"You're awfully quiet..." observed Ginny, "you alright?"

"Yeah."

"So I owled my mum and dad today asking if you could stay with us over the break," replied Ginny.

"Oh?"

"Yeah I know they'll be alright with it. They seem very excited to meet you."

Neville forced a smile and grabbed another dinner roll and a scoop of potatoes.

------

As soon as they finished dinner Neville and Ginny went up to their dorms to change but first Neville had to get rid of his dinner but was immediately angered to find that someone else had been in the washroom and he didn't really feel like having to go to another one so he sat on his bed and waited.

And waited, and waited. Finally the door opened and out stepped Seamus who had been in the shower.

"You been waitin' long mate?"

"No," lied Neville.

"'s all yours."

Neville quickly entered, slamming the door behind him. He cast a silencing charm and barely made it to the toilet in time as his food had already started to come up on its own.

Five minutes later he was done. He hadn't eaten a whole lot because he figured that Ginny would want to eat at Hogsmeade too so he needed to save room for that.

He brushed his teeth and jumped in the shower. When he came out he was happy to find the dorm empty. He lounged around looking for something to wear out with Ginny tonight when Seamus and Ron suddenly burst in.

Neville tightened the towel around his waist and awkwardly stood staring at them.

"We're all getting ready to play a game of truth or dare, want to join?" asked Seamus.

"Sorry can't...I'm taking Ginny to Hogsmeade."

"But Harry told me you and him weren't allowed to leave," replied Ron.

"We'll be fine...we aren't going to be there very long," assured Neville.

_'Don't just stand there! Put some clothes on! Do you honestly think they want to see all of your flabs of fat?'_

He noticed that both Seamus and Ron were observing him and hadn't said anything and it was making him nervous.

_'See...now you've gone and put them in shock! I suppose though I too would be shocked into a state of disbelief if I happened to witness a whale standing in my dorm room!'_

Neville cleared his throat.

"Anything I can help you two with?"

"I can see your ribs," replied Seamus bluntly.

He quickly closed the curtains around his bed and changed, hoping they would get the hint and leave and they did.

Neville ended up going with a white cotton button up with his brown corduroy trousers and brown dress shoes. He went back into the washroom and observed himself in the mirror. He still for the life of him couldn't figure out why Ginny wanted anything to do with him- let alone want to date him.

He sighed and adjusted his glasses.

He then spent the next five to ten minutes playing with his hair deciding how he should comb it. He had let it grow out rather longer this year and it was in dire need of a cut. If his gran were to see his hair now she'd most likely fall down dead. He had quite a lot of fringe that hung down in his face practically covering his eyes. He hated his hair, although Ginny had told him numerous times that she liked it and didn't want him to cut it. It just hung there and he hated the fact that it curled, he thought it made him look too young. He finally decided to part it on the side and comb the fringe out of his face so he would look more presentable.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs Harry, Ron, Hermione, Parvati, Dean and Seamus and even Ginny had been gathered around by the fireplace playing truth or dare. His dorm mates let out wolf whistles as he walked up to them and he felt himself blush.

"Alright now don't stay out too late you two," began Ron in a mocking voice.

"Wouldn't dream of it _mum_," replied Ginny, rolling her eyes.

Neville's breath caught in his throat when she stood up and walked over to him. She was wearing a flowy, pink top with an open back and a short black skirt.

"Wait a minute...you're not _actually_ going out in that?!" exclaimed Ron once he fully saw what she was wearing.

She stuck her tongue out at him and grabbed Neville's arm.

"Can you bloody believe her?!" They heard Ron shout as they walked out. "Mum'll kill her once I tell her Ginny wore that out in public!"

"I can actually see your face," she teased. "You look very handsome."

"You too..." he blushed, "I-I don't mean you look handsome obviously...you look beautiful."

Ginny giggled. "Thanks."

They made their way into Hogsmeade and began to walk around.

Neville suddenly began to get a bad feeling that something wasn't quite right but tried to push it aside so he and Ginny could have a good time.

"So where would you like to go?" he asked.

"Want to go share a dessert at Honeydukes?"

"Sure," he replied.

_'She loves to eat! I told you she was weak...she's not good to be around!'_

They went inside and sat down and Ginny ordered two different desserts as Neville watched on in horror.

She was expecting him to share _all _of that?!

"Hope your hungry," she began cheekily, "I saved up enough room during dinner for the sweets."

"I'm sure," he mumbled downheartedly.

"You really do look nice tonight Neville," she continued, "And to think I get you all to myself."

"Thanks Ginny but you don't have to keep showering me with compliments just because we're dating."

Ginny frowned.

"Do you really think that lowly of yourself to not be able to kindly accept a compliment when given to you?"

He sighed.

"I'm sorry Ginny...just kind of in a weird mood lately."

"I can tell. Is there something bothering you? I don't want another repeat of what happened earlier but you can get a load off and tell me..."

"Just thinking of my family, how I have yet to study for my mid-terms when I'm taking them within a week and going out to find that key. It's just a lot to have to worry about, you know?"

"What can I do to make it better?"

He smiled.

"Just being with you helps."

She returned the smile and reached over to grab his hand.

"It's kind of nice just to get away from everything isn't it?" she asked.

"Yeah it is," he agreed.

A few moments later their desserts arrived and Neville stared at them in disgust. Two pies, lemon meringue and butter pecan and he didn't even want to think of how much sugar and fat they contained.

Ginny handed him a fork.

"Well dig in."

He began to twirl the fork in his hand and watched as she began eating the lemon meringue.

"Mmm, oh god Neville this is so good! Try some?"

"I'm actually quite full from dinner."

"But you only had a couple of biscuits...c'mon just one bite! You can't expect me to eat all of this myself?"

_'Don't listen to her! LET her eat it all herself! If she wants to get fat that's her problem! She's trying to ruin you...can't you see?'_

"Maybe in a minute after my stomach settles."

"I'm so excited for you to meet the rest of my family," began Ginny through a mouthful of butter pecan, "I just know they're going to love you."

Neville nodded.

"Mmmm the butter pecan is even better! I can't believe you can just sit there and watch me eat this! I feel awful, just take one bite."

He caved and poked a tiny piece of the lemon meringue onto his fork and stuck it in his mouth.

_'Well I hope she's happy because that just cost us some serious collateral damage...'_

"See? It's good isn't it?"

He nodded and stared at the two pies Ginny had been working on and they were beginning to look more tempting. He went in with his fork and took another bite, then another and another. He wasn't even eating it for the taste, he hadn't really been able to decipher the taste of food for awhile. Eating wasn't pleasurable for him anymore as it had once been, it was simply filling a void that had been present in his life for some time. It was quite sad.

"Wow I see your appetite took quite a turn for the best," teased Ginny. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist!"

Within a matter of minutes Neville had finished both pies in their entirety and he stared in disgust at the empty pie trays that sat between them. He couldn't believe he had just eaten all of that in front of Ginny, she probably thought he was a pig.

"You still hungry?" asked Neville.

The words rung loudly in his brain, which had told him to say that before he could properly react and he sat there horrified as a strange look appeared on Ginny's face.

"No thanks that was quite filling. Why? Are you?"

Ten minutes later the waitress had returned to their table with a tray of chocolate chip cookies, two bowls of pudding, a bowl of gelatin and a bowl of ice cream completely drenched in chocolate syrup.

"Sure you don't want any of this?" he asked, as he immediately began to devour the cookies.

"Yes...are you sure you're alright?" she began worriedly, "Just moments ago you barely looked interested in the pies..."

"Changed my mind," he mumbled.

"So I was thinking that maybe we could go to Gladrags after this...I've been wanting to look for some new clothes for awhile and I could model them for you and you could model some for me."

The last thing Neville wanted to do was try on clothes! He could practically feel his trousers growing snug on him as he continued to stuff his face but he wasn't going to tell Ginny _no_, especially after how much of a jerk he was to her earlier.

"Sure," he replied softly.

"Or we could go look at the latest brooms..." began Ginny, "if that sounds more appealing."

"I'm fine with whatever you want to do Ginny."

When he was finished with everything he leaned back and immediately felt as though his stomach had been bloated to about ten times it's actual size and that it was still expanding. He had to sneak away from Ginny somehow.

"Ginny I'm going to go pay the waitress...I'll be right back."

"Alright."

He payed the waitress and then looked back to make sure Ginny hadn't been watching and snuck into the back where the washrooms were located.

As soon as he entered he cast the silencing charm and knelt down in front of the toilet just as everything began coming up. He had been particularly disgusted with himself tonight as he had allowed himself to pig out like that in front of Ginny and how he'd let the temptation ruin all of the hard work he'd put in lately. If he wanted to feel better about himself and ever reach his goal weight he'd need to be more strict and include more work out sessions in his already seemingly impossible schedule. He just could never seem to feel accomplished in anything and although he was trying it simply was never enough.

When he had finished he got up and splashed his face with cold water and proceeded to brush his teeth twice, he had begun carrying his toothbrush with him at all times due to never knowing when he'd need to freshen up. He pushed back a few loose strands of hair, adjusted his glasses and hurried back to Ginny, making sure to avoid eye contact with her.

"Sorry 'bout that...I uh actually ran into an old friend of mine and wanted to say hi..." he lied, and the guilt struck him immediately. He felt awful lying to Ginny but she was already becoming suspicious of him and he had to throw her off as quickly as possible.

"Oh?" she began, "Well who was it then?"

Neville thought quickly and remembered his old friend from years ago.

"You don't know her...we haven't spoken since my third year."

"I might so tell me."

"Nancie."

"Well why don't you take me over and introduce me?"

"Uh no...she was just leaving when I saw her. Are you ready to go?"

They made their way to Gladrags in silence.

"Neville why won't you look at me?"

"Just nervous."

"Why? About what?"

"I don't know..."

The uneasy feeling Neville had felt when they first arrived at Hogsmeade had returned but he was trying to ignore it.

"Ginny...do you have your wand with you?" asked Neville quietly, as he had just realized that he had stupidly forgotten his.

"Yes...why?"

"Ginny...I think we should head back...like right now," he replied hurriedly, coming to a halt and grabbing her arm.

"Why? Neville- what-"

"Give me your wand."

"Neville what's going on? You're scaring me..."

"Just give me your wand..."

Ginny handed over her wand and they began walking back towards Hogwarts and she could barely keep up with him even though he was gripping her hand tightly, it was still more like he was pulling her.

"Neville slow down and tell me what's going on!"

By now the only lights visible were the street lights and the paths had been cleared out and they were alone.

Just as they were about to reach the entryway to leave, Neville's blood ran cold and his heart dropped as he knew they were no longer alone.

------

**Author's Note: **Yay another cliffhanger!Alright so there you go! There's chapter 23...I just want to make note that what may seem like Neville being a 'jerk' isn't really him but his eating disorder beginning to take over him more, so hopefully that won't cause any of you to love Neville any less! Sadly though that's the reality of EDs is that they change you...anyways, please give me your reviews, feedback and overall comments! Thanks for reading! :)


	25. Impaction

**Chapter 24: **Impaction

Neville had unknowingly been squeezing Ginny's wrist so tightly that she let out a tiny squeak. He quickly spun around in the opposite direction and held Ginny back behind him.

"Who's there?" he called out, more calmly and bravely than he had expected.

There was no one there but the overwhelming sense of someone's presence was surrounding them.

Out of nowhere a wind began to pick up and it violently swarmed around them, Ginny's skirt flew up and their hair was whipping around their faces wildly. Next the street lights began flickering off and on and the wind began to emit an eerie howling sound.

"NEVILLE WHAT'S GOING ON?" screamed Ginny.

Without responding to her he took a few steps forward, her wand raised threateningly in his hand.

"WHO'S THERE?" he called again louder. "SHOW YOURSELF!"

_"There is nowhere left to hide my dear child, your destiny has arrived and the time has come for you to rise."_

Neville looked around trying to see if he could sense where the voice was coming from but soon realized that the trail of sound seemed to have no direction.

"WHO ARE YOU?" he demanded, with a hint of anger in his tone.

_"A wise witch once told a boy his future, his destiny was set for him to follow and he lived as though he would expire tomorrow. As it was told- before his poor, unfortunate soul had joined the fallen- he would father a son whose intent in this world was set in stone and upon his arrival his destiny revealed that he held the key to our survival. He must banish all inhibition and delve into the darkest depths of his mind and match wits with the most evil of forces to which his powers are blind. If he shall fail then our empire will fall into the hands of he who shall not be named and upon us his sin will remain forever untamed."_

"SHOW YOURSELF!" screamed Neville, but instead the voice continued.

_"The time has come for the prophecy to be fulfilled. I have been sent from beyond our realms to voice the revelation of its mystery. The silent warrior who wallows in the darkened gleam of the dying flame, arise he shall and when he does our world will never be the same. He shall come forth and lead the way as the darkness takes its plight, he'll leave behind the boy who died and rise again as a man who hath aged with wisdom and become a hero overnight. Along this journey he will be forced to make the most difficult decisions ever in his life but with the knowledge he hath collected he will act with great precision and triumphant strife. Now marks the beginning of his imminent and tragic quest, he has made his first choice and must continue to pass each test. Listen closely as I speak, as I say that tomorrow he will find just as soon as he will rise that a new day has arrived and he must open up his eyes. Release the lion that rages inside and keep it near, for he is our only hope to relinquish the key to fear."_

Silence.

Neville stumbled out to the center of the alley and began to walk around searching for signs of anyone. He had to confirm somehow that he hadn't just lost his mind and gone completely insane like his parents. Could this have possibly been some cruel joke?

He finally turned around to face Ginny whose face had lost every trace of blood, just by her reaction he was relieved to find that he hadn't just imagined this.

"Let's get out of here!" squeaked Ginny, as she grabbed his hand and drug him away.

------

Upon their arrival back to the castle the prophecy kept echoing in his head.

He and Ginny sat silently in the common room watching the fire.

It had taken Neville quite a while to stop shaking and Ginny sat with him the entire time, trying her best to calm him down.

"Who could that have been?" asked Ginny. "We didn't see anyone...there was no one there!"

"I think I know who it was," replied Neville softly.

"Who?"

"The same witch who my father encountered once...Maven Carling, he wrote about her in his journal. Now I just have to find her..."

"This all seems so unreal," began Ginny, "you should tell Dumbledore about what we heard."

He nodded and sighed.

"I have so much new information to process and yet still have no idea when I'm taking my mid-terms and I haven't been studying nearly as hard as I should..."

"Want me to help you?" offered Ginny.

"You have your own courses to study for," he replied, "I appreciate the offer though."

Ginny sighed.

"Anything I can do to help you Neville you know I will you just have to ask."

"I know."

"You say that but you never ask for help with anything, it's as though you see yourself as a burden or something...it's doesn't make you weak to need help from those who care about you."

"I know Ginny I just...there are some things that need to be done alone."

"Like what? Suffer with stress and guilt over things you can't control? You don't have to carry the burden of this yourself you know. _I'm_ here."

When Neville didn't answer Ginny continued.

"So now that we're alone..._talk _to me, tell me what is going on inside your head because sometimes I don't think I'll ever know..."

"I just want this all to be over," he replied glumly. "I'm not strong enough to- I'm not _meant_ to be a hero Ginny. I just- I'm better off being out of the way. I-I can't do anything right. I can't even walk without tripping over my own feet half the time and I forget so much that it's a wonder I haven't lost my head! I'm just worthless. Why on earth would anyone ever think to give me such a huge task to follow through with!"

"Bollocks!" scolded Ginny angrily, "you are _not_ worthless! You have a gift, obviously there is something about you that is different from everyone else- just like with Harry- you're special and if it weren't meant for this to be your destiny then it would have been dealt to someone else. Don't you see Neville? You _are_ strong, brave and talented and the only thing holding you back- the only thing you are lacking- is _faith_ in yourself. If you tell yourself how great you are you will be able to do anything. I mean it! Remember...just moments ago you were ready to run out and attack someone we couldn't even see without even a flinch or a second of hesitation!"

Neville remained silent so she continued.

"And of course...who could forget what you did at the Department of Mysteries...if it weren't for you _who knows_ what might have happened to Harry," she trailed off, "you were the _only _one left out of all of us who could help Harry hold off the Death Eaters until the order arrived. You are so much more important than you realize, there is more to you than your knack with plants...you have so much more talent than you allow yourself to show."

"Thank you Ginny that's really sweet of you."

"It's the truth."

He smiled and pulled her closer and kissed her head.

"What ever would I do without you?" he asked.

"Well let's see," she began, "you would probably be driven into a state of permanent madness by Lavender..."

He couldn't help but snicker.

"No but really Ginny...I think you owe Lavender an apology. You were really awful to her."

"_I know_," agreed Ginny guiltily. "I'll try and see if she'll talk to me tomorrow."

They both stretched out so that they were laying down.

Ginny interlocked her fingers with his and gently traced along his chest with a finger on the other hand.

"Have I mentioned how ecstatic I am to take you home and show off to my family?"

"Only about a _million _times today," he replied with a blush.

She placed a quick kiss on his nose and giggled.

"Ginny I'm just warning you now...if we see each other less over the following days please don't be upset. I really have to focus on studying for mid-terms and quite frankly you're just too big of a distraction for me- although not in a _bad_ way..." he replied with a sly grin.

She grinned back wickedly.

"Not my fault you're so hard to resist!"

Neville scoffed and rolled his eyes.

A couple of minutes passed and neither of them said a word, he listened to her soft breathing and held her tighter. Aside from all of the current stress in his life this was the happiest he had been in a very long time and he had Ginny to thank for that. It felt right being with her, he couldn't exactly describe why but it just did. Eventually he glanced down at her and noticed that her eyes were closed. He figured she had fallen asleep so very softly he whispered in her ear-

_"I love you Ginny."_

------

"_HEM!_"

"Shhh! You're going to wake them! You can be such an inconsiderate pig sometimes!"

"Look I'm fine with them _dating _but I don't want them sleeping together!"

"Ron...isn't it obvious nothing happened? They're still dressed in their clothes from last night and probably just fell asleep when they returned from Hogsmeade."

"_Hmmph_," mumbled Ron, "nothing _better have_ happened!"

"Should we let them sleep a little longer?" questioned Hermione.

"Yeah if they want to miss breakfast."

"They are so cute..." replied Hermione softly, "you can tell how much he loves her, look at how he's holding her."

Ron scoffed.

"_Cute_?" began Ron defensively, "ugh _please_ you are beginning to sound like Lavender!"

Ron cried out as Hermione slugged him.

"Take that back this instant Ronald!"

"Relax I was just kidding!"

"I don't know why I put up with you," she retorted.

"It's because you _love_ me," answered Ron smugly.

"Oh please," began Hermione with a blush, "don't flatter yourself..."

"They still sleeping?" asked Harry, walking over to join his two friends.

"Yes," replied Hermione, "although someone should probably wake them..."

At just that moment Ginny began to rustle and groggily sat up to find the trio staring down at them.

"Good morning," said Hermione, "we were just about to wake you."

"So do you three always stand around and watch people sleep?" she questioned with a yawn.

"Ginny..." began Ron in a low voice, "you two didn't do anything _stupid_ did you?"

"Ron!" exclaimed Hermione.

"It's alright Hermione," began Ginny, "and that's none of your business."

"It might not be mine but I'm sure mum and dad would feel differently!"

"Oh come off it Ron!" began Ginny with a glare. "I haven't done anything that you haven't already done!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Ginny smirked.

"Don't play innocent...last week at around, oh about two in the morning I saw you sneak down from the girls' dorms. I'm sure mum and dad would love to hear about that as well."

Ron's mouth fell open and Hermione looked to him with horror.

"Er," began Harry awkwardly, "so shall we be getting to breakfast then?"

"You were _spying _on us?!" exclaimed Ron.

"No...you just need to learn to be more discreet," replied Ginny.

"Whatever I'm starving I'm going to breakfast," mumbled Ron.

Harry shrugged at the two girls and soon followed.

"How is he?" asked Hermione.

"Who?"

"Neville."

"Fine I suppose...well I mean he's stressed but who wouldn't be with all he's got going on?"

"You should keep an eye on him," began Hermione quietly, as she sat down next to Ginny on the other end of the couch.

"Why?"

"Well like you said he's under a lot of stress and he's got a lot of pressure being put on him...you know, just make sure he's getting some frustration out, keeping up with his studies, eating properly..."

Ginny sighed and stared at her sleeping boyfriend.

"I get the feeling that there's something going on with him that he's not telling me," began Ginny, "I've felt that way for awhile but he won't talk to me and anytime I mention it he gets really defensive and tries to change the subject."

Hermione also watched his sleeping figure in thought.

"As long as he knows you're here he should open up eventually...Neville's always been a very private person."

"Have you noticed how much weight he's lost?" asked Ginny as she bit her lip.

"Of course, you can't _not_ notice, even Ron has mentioned something about it and he doesn't even notice when _I _change something about myself."

"I mean he eats," began Ginny, "you should have seen what all he ate when we went to Hogsmeade last night..."

"Stress can cause weight loss," began Hermione, "remember how skinny Harry was during fourth and fifth year?"

Ginny nodded.

"I suppose you're right," she agreed. "I just wish I could help him somehow. I imagine he's already told you that he's taking his mid-terms early so he can begin searching for that key..."

Hermione nodded.

"It just seems so dangerous," continued Ginny, "I don't want anything to happen to him. I wish he didn't have to go."

"He and Harry have been training for months," began Hermione reassuringly, "and I'm sure Dumbledore will make sure someone else goes to assist him."

"I'm going to go up and change," replied Ginny quietly, "you can go on to breakfast if you like...I'll come back down and wake him up."

"Things will get better Ginny..."

"I hope so."

Hermione gave her a hug and left.

Ginny went up to change and came back down to wake Neville up. She began to gently rub her hands through his hair.

"Neville wake up."

After a couple of minutes he finally opened his eyes.

Ginny grabbed his glasses from the coffee table and placed them on his face.

"Good morning," she replied with a smile. "You need to go get dressed, breakfast has already started without us. We overslept."

He sat up and stretched his arms.

"I'm not hungry," he began quietly, "you go on without me."

Ginny watched him disapprovingly.

"You have to eat something."

"I ate enough last night to last an entire week," he reminded her.

"Oh fine," she replied, "but you still have to get changed."

He stood up and stretched his legs.

"Go on Ginny I'll be fine. I need to go talk to Dumbledore anyways."

"Alright...see you later," she replied with a kiss on his cheek before leaving.

Neville ran up to the dorm, showered, changed and made his way to Dumbledore's office.

When he arrived Dumbledore's door was open slightly, so he knocked but there was no answer.

He knocked again.

"Professor Dumbledore?"

Neville gently pushed the door in and entered.

Dumbledore wasn't in his office. Neville was about to turn around and leave when something happened to catch his eye, beside Dumbledore's desk was a pensieve. Neville quickly looked around to make sure no one had been watching and slowly approached it. He looked inside and could see that someone had just placed a memory inside. Neville was curious but knew he shouldn't be meddling so he sat down.

However a nagging voice inside of his head kept encouraging him to view whatever was inside the pensieve.

So Neville stood up and placed a hand on either side of the pensieve and stuck his head inside.

Once again he was falling so quickly that he squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the impending impact that logically he knew wouldn't occur. When he opened his eyes he found himself in a darkened room lit only by a few candles. He could hear sniffles and soft crying amongst people who were gathered around a small table.

He slowly made his way forward and instantly recognized the faces of Dumbledore, a very young Sirius, Remus, James and Lily Potter and Snape along with his much younger grandmother. Everyone but Dumbledore, Snape and his gran had been crying- which he had never seen his gran cry, not even at his granddad's funeral.

"It is my sad duty to inform you all that Frank and Alice have been critically wounded and will not recover," began Dumbledore softly, "last night they were attacked by a group of Death Eaters led by Bellatrix Lestrange. They were tortured with the cruciatus curse for hours until they went insane..."

Harry's mother began bawling even more and buried her face into her husband's shoulder.

"We had no idea..." started Harry's father, "we got note that something had happened but we had no idea they were attacked."

"Augusta I'm so sorry," began Sirius, "Frank was a good man...he always had our backs and his efforts to the order will never be forgotten."

"_IS _a good man," Augusta corrected him coldly, "my son _is_ a good man, you speak of him as though he were dead which he is not."

"Of course," replied Sirius shamefully, "I apologize."

Dumbledore continued.

"It is reported that they were attacked in their home around 6 p.m. last night...and were not discovered until early this morning."

"What about their son?" asked Remus, "Where is he?"

"He is with my husband," answered Augusta stiffly. "I thank Merlin he wasn't harmed..."

"Wait...the boy was _there_?! At the house- during the attack?!" asked Sirius incredulously.

"Frank and Alice knew their lives were in grave danger," continued Dumbledore somberly, "they had been packing to leave their home last night. They hid Neville in a cupboard and enchanted it so his cries couldn't be heard. If the Death Eaters would have known of him being there there is no doubt they would have taken him."

"Did the Death Eaters find the key?" asked Remus.

"No," answered Dumbledore, "Frank informed me about a week ago that they had hidden it in case they were to be attacked."

"Did they say where?"

Dumbledore shook his head thoughtfully.

"I never got a chance to ask them of its whereabouts."

"What will happen to the boy?" asked Lily through tears. "He's so young and to already be orphaned...how awful. He was born the day before our Harry..."

"He is _not_ orphaned," replied Augusta in a huff, "his parents are not dead, they are simply...incapacitated for the time being and and my husband and I will raise him."

"Is that what Frank and Alice wanted?" asked Sirius gently.

"_Of course_ that is what they wanted!" began Augusta defensively, "Frank was my son! Why shouldn't he want me to raise my own grandchild?"

"Augusta...I must ask something of you," began Dumbledore, turning to Neville's gran, "if you should find the key that I entrusted upon your son I want you to destroy it."

"Why would I _destroy_ it?" she asked, "that was probably one of the last things my son ever touched..."

"Augusta that key must be destroyed," repeated Dumbledore more firmly, "the fate of our world depends on it."

Augusta said nothing but Neville could tell by the set look on her face and the way her arms were crossed that she did not agree.

"Do I have your word?"

"I wouldn't even know the first place to look," she replied. "If you expect me to go out and search for it then I am afraid I can do no such thing. I have a grandson to raise now and much more important things to do with my time."

Neville could see Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkling even in the dull candlelight displayed before him.

"Of course Augusta I can not ask anything more of you."

"Frank's legacy will surely be carried on through Neville," began Augusta confidently, "I will raise him just as I did my own sons. My Frank will _not_ be pitied but rather respected with the highest degree of honor for his contributions and great sacrifice for us all."

"Very well stated Augusta," replied Dumbledore. "And now our focus is on the best intentions of young Neville. It was brought to my attention years ago that a witch named Maven Carling had once spoken to Frank as a boy and told him that he would father a son who would be essential to our survival. Augusta did Frank ever inform you of this?"

"He did not...but I know Maven and she is about as credible as my Archibald's bad hip! Anything she says can _not_ be viewed as fact, this is the problem with our world today, everyone is willing to believe anything layed out before them as fact. Well I say it is all hogwash!"

"Maven is a very highly respected seer and so far all of her prophecies have proven true."

Neville's grandmother rolled her eyes and pulled a tiny mirror out of her purse to fix her graying hair.

"I have known Maven for a long time," continued Dumbledore, "she is a very old companion who I have known over half my life and I have utmost trust in her."

"She's a fraud," argued Augusta sternly, "and my Archibald is proof of that. She prophecised to me fifteen years ago that my husband would die a horrific and most unhonorable death and he's perfectly fit as the day I met him, hasn't got a weak bone in his body and I can count on one hand just how many times he has been ill in the last thirty eight years. She ought to be locked up...she is a nothing but a disgrace to our kind."

The room remained silent.

"Albus, might I suggest showing Mrs. Longbottom the prophecy?" uttered Snape, breaking the silence.

"I will see nothing of the sort!" she bellowed.

"Mrs. Longbottom I must ask that you view the prophecy," began Dumbledore calmly, "for the sake of your grandson's future. He will be expected to do great things for our world and you must know what they are so you can one day prepare him for his fate."

Augusta suddenly stood up, grabbed her purse and began wagging her finger in Dumbledore's face.

"You do not tell me what I need to do! My grandson is _my_ concern and I will be the only one who has any say for what's in his future!"

"Augusta please," continued Dumbledore, not missing a beat, "it is crucial for you to know what lies ahead, he has been chosen. The prophecy has spoken."

"I will _not_ be patronized! I have no interest in what this so called _prophecy _has to say about my grandson and that _is final_!"

"Augusta," began Remus calmly, "we all realize that you are quite upset and not in your right frame of mind-"

"Not in my right _frame of mind_?!" she bellowed threateningly. "A Longbottom is never _not_ in their right frame of mind! I am appalled that you all are here seeming to suggest that I ought to agree with what course of action to take with my grandson's future, he's just a baby and all of this nonsense is something I do not plan to tolerate! Now if you will excuse me I am going to be returning home to my family!"

"Augusta?" Dumbledore called as she reached the door, "just one more thing and then you may leave."

He waited until she turned around to continue speaking.

"How much do you love your grandson?"

Suddenly Augusta's face fell and soon contorted with rage.

"How _dare_ you ask me such a thing! I've taken him in! I'm going to be caring for him for the next sixteen years!"

"I do apologize Augusta. It was not my intention to suggest that you did not care for Neville but he is a very special boy who needs to be carefully monitored over the course of his young life. Neville is destined for great things and I will ask once more that you view the prophecy, it was Frank and Alice's final wish that I show you."

Augusta's face settled back to her usual expression and she stood without a word, carefully reviewing her options.

"If this was what my son wanted then I will have to oblige."

"Very well," began Dumbledore, "Severus the prophecy please."

Augusta carefully walked back over to the table and sat down while Snape disappeared.

"Albus would you like us to search for the key?" offered James.

Dumbledore shook his head and smiled.

"It is not an issue of concern for the moment," he replied.

A few moments later Snape returned with a glass sphere that was emitting a bright blue glow that illuminated the faces of everyone in the room as he set it down on the table before them. Dumbledore waited a moment and then drew his wand out and lightly touched the sphere and began to chant under his breath.

Suddenly goosebumps rose all over Neville's body as he immediately recognized the voice that had spoken to him and Ginny the other night at Hogsmeade.

_"The time has come for the prophecy to be fulfilled. I have been sent from beyond our realms to voice the revelation of its mystery. The silent warrior who wallows in the darkened gleam of the dying flame, arise he shall and when he does our world will never be the same. He shall come forth and lead the way as the darkness takes its plight, he'll leave behind the boy who died and rise again as a man who hath aged with wisdom and become a hero overnight. Along this journey he will be forced to make the most difficult decisions ever in his life but with the knowledge he hath collected he will act with great precision and triumphant strife. Now marks the beginning of his imminent and tragic quest, he has made his first choice and must continue to pass each test. Listen closely as I speak, as I say that tomorrow he will find just as soon as he will rise that a new day has arrived and he must open up his eyes. Release the lion that rages inside and keep it near, for he is our only hope to relinquish the key to fear."_

Silence.

The younger members of the order all watched each other with wide eyes and then turned to Augusta, who remained still and calm.

"I must ask one more thing of you Augusta," began Dumbledore softly, "do not speak to Neville of this. The time will come for him to learn of his destiny but that time is not now. We must wait until he is older, we must protect him from the truth for as long as we can."

"And what good will this do?" retorted Augusta.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.

"It can do no good just as it can do no harm. Let the boy discover in his own way, whenever he is ready the time will come for him to be told."

"I must be going," replied Augusta coldly, suddenly standing up. "I will be in touch."

And then she was gone.

Neville was relieved to know that his gran had always been difficult, even before he was old enough to realize it. He had always assumed from a young age that she was only like this to him. He loved her and she meant everything to him but he often found himself wishing that she were more loving towards him. She often came across as cold and uncaring but that is just the way she was raised and it is all he has ever known. He knew she loved him and she had certain ways of showing it, but sometimes it wasn't enough and he still managed to feel so alone and unloved.

"No wonder Frank and Francis were so rebellious..." muttered Sirius to no one in particular, "that woman is _impossible _to please. You just can't bargain with her."

No more than twenty minutes after his grandmother left the others slowly began to file out as well until only Dumbledore and Snape remained.

"Severus you have served me well and for your courage and great bravery I am forever in your debt. However I must ask you to do something else for me."

"Anything Albus."

"I want you to watch over the boy when he is of age to attend Hogwarts. His grandmother is blind with grief and defiance and I do not want her to negatively influence him from what is to be his fate. I need you to make sure he is kept out of harms way until he is fully equipped with the magic and knowledge to protect himself. I trust you Severus."

Snape watched the older wizard unblinkingly for many seconds before finally nodding.

Suddenly Neville felt himself being pulled away at a speed that seemed even quicker than when he had first arrived.

When he was back in Dumbledore's office he was startled to find that the older wizard had been in the room.

"Good morning Mr. Longbottom."

"Oh er- morning s-sir...I'm sorry I-I just came in and-"

"Please have a seat."

"I-I didn't mean to-"

"Neville it is alright. I am glad that your curiosity allows for you to make such formidable decisions, that may just come in very handy."

"Professor...if you asked Snape to look after me while I was here then why has he treated me so horribly? Why does he hate me?"

"He does not hate you my boy..."

"Have you seen the way he treats me?! He's treated me like right garbage for the past seven years! There _has_ to be a reason for it!"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled once more.

"I would imagine there is," replied the aging wizard.

"_Well _do you know?" asked Neville.

"I am afraid I can not speak for Severus."

Neville sighed.

"Professor...the reason I'm here is because when Ginny and I went to Hogsmeade last night we heard Maven Carling's prophecy about me..."

At this Dumbledore's eyebrows rose and his normally small eyes grew wide.

"And I just thought that I ought to let you know."

"I am very glad you have informed me of this Neville. It is time..."

"Er time for what?"

"It is time for your journey to begin."

"B-but what if I'm not ready! I-I...there is still so much I haven't learned! So much I don't know! I-I'm still inexperienced! I-I can't just be expected to go out there as I am now?!"

"And why is that Mr. Longbottom?"

"Because I'm...I'm a screw up! The fate of the wizarding world in my hands? That's like giving a serpent your arm to bite! I'm poison!"

"Ah but this is where you are wrong my boy," began Dumbledore softly, "_you_ are the anecdote but you must find within yourself the true purpose of your heart and when you do the rest will all come easier than you think."

"I don't understand..."

"You will soon enough."

"I hope so..."

"Will you be prepared to take your mid-terms tomorrow evening?"

Neville's heart fell. He hadn't expected to be taking them so soon, he had been studying a little when he had free time and Hermione had helped him a couple of times but it wasn't nearly enough and he couldn't put it off any longer. He wanted to get as early of a start on the search for the key as he could.

"Yes sir."

"Very good. You will not attend classes tomorrow so you can have the entire day to study. Then you will report to my office tomorrow following dinner to take them and then you will be free to begin your search."

Neville nodded.

"I have faith in you Mr. Longbottom," replied the old wizard kindly, "just look within yourself and you too will see this."

Neville thanked Dumbledore and left. He looked down at his pocket watch, breakfast was already over so he made his way to Francis' office.

When he entered no one was inside so he decided to try checking the room of requirement and sure enough they were there.

"Hello Neville," greeted his uncle cheerfully, "will you be joining our dueling session today?"

"You better," began Maitland, "dad says you've been the reigning champ in his class and I'd love a challenge."

"So who is dueling first?" asked Francis as he twirled his wand eagerly in his hand.

"I'll go," offered Harry.

"Me too," echoed Nelie.

"Alright get into position. Wands ready? And duel!"

Harry and Nelie both shot off attacks at exactly the same time.

"OCCUMBOLUS!"

"RIDEO!"

They both successfully blocked their attacks.

"DISTRAHO! TRINIUS!" bellowed Nelie, as she ducked out of the way just in time to avoid Harry's spell.

Harry was hit and immediately distracted and then was dragged down by an invisible force that had slipped beneath his feet.

From the floor Harry uttered his next spell.

"MANIBUS IGNEUS!"

Immediately after the jet of white light exited his wand and hit Nelie she dropped her wand with a shriek.

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

But just as Nelie's wand flew up into the air towards Harry she countered it and it jumped back into her outstretched hands.

"ARTUS LIQUIDUS!" she bellowed in return, hitting Harry right in his wand arm.

Suddenly his limbs went limp and he collapsed to the floor, he tried to move but his limbs were liquefied.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" she finished and Harry's wand flew effortlessly into her hand.

"Excellent work Cornelia," replied her father proudly, "good effort Harry."

Nelie did a curtsy and winked at Harry as she countered the spell and tossed him his wand.

"Who would like to duel with Cornelia now?"

"I'll take her," began Maitland, stepping up into position, "after all it should only take about a second to defeat her."

Nelie stuck her tongue out at her brother.

"Wands ready. And go!"

Before Francis had even had a chance to say _go_ they both impatiently shot off their attacks.

"CAPITIS INGENS!"

"ACCIDO VESTITUS!"

Jets of bright purple and silvery grey exited both their wands at the same time, only Maitland blocked his and Nelie was hit. Suddenly her clothes began to come to life and attack her, slowly ripping at the seams.

"There now you haven't any more excuses not to buy a new wardrobe!" joked Maitland.

"Oh yeah? CAPITIS INGENS!"

Maitland blocked her oncoming attack once again and laughed.

"Admit it sis...I'm too good and you know it! AUTUS CAPILLUS!"

Before Nellie could even counter the previous spell she was hit with the next and suddenly on top of her clothes attacking her, her short pixie hair had begun to grow at an alarming rate until it covered her entire body and was beginning to fill the room. Somehow she managed to stick her arm out of the growing hair and although very muffled, called out her attack.

"SICCO!"

Suddenly the lights went out.

"CAPITIS INGENS!"

When the lights came back on everyone watched in awe as Maitland's head began to grow at an even more alarming rate than Nelie's hair, like a balloon, until eventually it was three times its normal size.

"How do you like your new head little brother?" taunted Nelie, who had countered her spell and was back to normal, "now your ego should feel more properly fitted!"

Francis leaned in towards Neville.

"You should have seen them yesterday..." he began quietly, "they were much more viscious to each other...even as kids they would duel for hours...it was never really about winning the duel but always more about who could humiliate the other the worst."

Maitland quickly countered the spell and shot off another, which Nelie blocked and sent back to him.

Maitland dodged it and caught her off guard.

"REDDO IGNOTUS!"

Nelie was hit and immediately attempted to fire off another spell but could not be understood.

"What was that?" asked Maitland, "sorry...can't quite understand you! Might want to speak up!"

He fired another spell which flipped her up in the air, her arms and legs sprawling about as though she were swimming through mid-air.

She was flipped again until she was upside down.

"RIDEO!"

Suddenly she began to laugh hysterically as though an invisible pair of hands were tickling her.

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

Maitland reached out and grabbed her wand with a look of satisfaction on his face as Nelie toppled to the ground below.

She got up, brushed herself off and glared at her brother.

"YOU CHEATED! YOU KNOW WE SAID NO SNEAK ATTACKS!"

"That's the whole point of a duel Nel, anything goes. Plus do you think Death Eaters are going to be polite and warn us before attacking? Pay more attention next time...maybe you'll learn something."

"You little bastard!"

"Hey! Hey now kids...it's just supposed to be for fun so Harry and Neville can put into practice what they've learned! Settle down."

Nelie continued to glare at her brother as he got into position for his next opponent.

"Alright Neville you're up," called Francis.

Neville gulped there was no way he could beat Maitland after what he had just witnessed. He and Nelie must have both had at least five or six years of serious experience respectively to him and Harry. He took a deep breath and readied his wand.

"Shake gentlemen," replied Francis.

Neville and Maitland approached, shook hands and returned to their places.

"Alright...duel!"

"MONTENSEM!"

"PRAEVENIO!"

Neville had shot off a prevention charm which halted Maitland's attack- who looked astonished and began to examine his wand- right in its tracks.

"IMPETUS!"

The jet of black hit Maitland square in the chest and he flew backwards so fast that he broke right through part of the flimsy wall.

"Oh my gosh! Are you alright?" Neville asked as he started to run towards him but quickly stopped as Maitland jumped right back up and fired another curse, catching Neville off guard.

"PANIGIO!"

Neville felt as if he were being pounded by a million fists and the force of it all brought him to his knees.

Maitland shot off another curse which Neville blocked.

"ENGORGIO!"

Neville's curse had barely caught Maitland on the leg, which immediately began to swell to five times its normal size.

"AGUAMENTI!" bellowed Neville, "TALEA!"

First Maitland was soaked with a jet stream of water that expelled from Neville's wand and then an invisible force swept beneath his feet and knocked him flat on his back.

Maitland blocked Neville's next curse, jumped up and fired another.

"TORPEO!"

Neville's entire body went numb but he still managed to lift his wand and bellow out his next attack.

"LUMINOSUS!"

Suddenly a bright light erupted from Neville's wand hitting Maitland right in the eyes.

He tried to shield his eyes but the light was so bright he didn't react in time.

"VALIDUS VENTARMUS!"

A large gust of wind burst inside the room of requirement causing the entire room to shake.

The strong gust of wind moved towards Maitland who could only stand frozen with amazement as it engulfed him and began to spin and throw him around in a chaotic fashion- just as it had Hermione during their first dark arts duel.

"RADIXUS!"

Suddenly gigantic, bright green roots erupted from the ground, wrapping themselves around Maitland to pull him down.

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

Maitland's wand flew out of his hand and straight into Neville's.

As Maitland continued to struggle with the roots, everyone else ran over to Neville to congratulate him.

"Wow Neville you just keep getting better and better!" exclaimed his uncle.

"That was fantastic!" squealed Nelie.

"A little help over here?!" called Maitland helplessly.

Neville countered the curse and went over to his cousin to shake his hand.

"Mate...I've got mad respect for that," began Maitland with a grin, "anyone who can beat me in a duel is alright in my book."

Neville grinned back.

"Alright Neville," began Francis slowly, "you ready to duel an old man?"

Neville laughed.

"Sure."

"But I beg of you go easy on me...I'm not as young and quick as I used to be."

Maitland smirked.

"Not as magically advanced either..."

Neville and Francis took their places.

"Alright men shake...and on the count of three," began Nelie. "One...two...three!"

Neville immediately shot off one spell after the other only to have them all repelled by Francis.

"CONFUNDUS!"

Francis blocked the spell and sent it right back to Neville, who immediately was met with confusion.

"IMPEDIMENTA!"

Neville was hit once again and everything was moving in slow motion.

"FINITE INCANTATUM!"

Everything returned to normal and Neville fired off two spells, which successfully hit his uncle.

"RURSUS FLIPEO! SCINDO!"

Francis was forced into a back flip and ended in a rather painful looking split, his legs frozen in that position, which left his children laughing in hysterics.

Francis countered the spell and shot one at Neville which he countered and sent back to Francis, which he blocked.

Their duel carried on for another twenty minutes and Neville couldn't believe he was holding his own against such an experienced auror! It was truly an unbelievable feat to him and he had to keep himself focused otherwise he would fumble and be defeated.

"MOBILIARBUS!"

Neville blocked the spell.

"MUFFLIATO!"

Suddenly Neville wasn't able to hear anything and was unaware of Francis disarming him.

He countered the spell and was suddenly beginning to feel dizzy, they had been dueling so intensely that he was covered in sweat, his vision began to blur slightly and he bent down on his knee to rest a moment but when he tried to stand up again he collapsed.

"What's wrong? Are you alright?" came his uncle's soothing voice. "That was quite a duel but I think that's enough for today..."

Maitland and Nelie went over to Neville to make sure he was alright while Francis and Harry hung back.

"Whoa Neville I can't believe you lasted that long against our dad!" began Maitland excitedly, "even we can only last a good five or ten minutes whenever we duel him!"

"Harry...has he been feeling alright?" Francis asked him quietly, "he doesn't look very well."

"I'm sure he's fine," replied Harry, "he's just under a lot of stress and he didn't eat breakfast this morning so maybe that's why he's so tired."

"Has he been talking to you at all?"

Harry shook his head.

"Not really."

"He can't go off looking for that key like this," continued Francis. "And right now he looks in no shape to be setting off on such a stenuous journey..."

"I'll help him," replied Harry, "this is all still new to him."

"Just please keep an eye on him Harry," began Francis, "and if you should ever think anything is not right with him please tell me. I may not have been in Neville's life for long but he is my brother's only son and I want to do what's best for him. I'm sure my mother has raised him well but she can be quite...well for lack of a better word _oblivious_ to the rest of the world where she isn't involved."

Harry nodded.

"Alright the rest of you out," called Francis jokingly, "go on get out of here!"

"Bye dad! We'll owl you later," replied Nelie, as she hugged him and followed Harry out of the room.

"Son that was some good dueling. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks dad. See you later."

Francis waited until his son was gone and slowly approached Neville who was still hunched over on the floor with his head between his knees.

"You alright?" he asked his nephew worriedly.

When Neville didn't respond Francis bent down next to the boy and was alarmed to find that he was breathing very heavily and unable to speak.

"Neville?"

"S-sorry tryin' not to pass out."

"Why didn't you eat breakfast this morning?"

"Overslept."

"Neville you can't afford to not eat with the kind of schedule you have...you need strength."

"I know," huffed Neville, "I'll be fine...just need to rest a moment."

Francis watched his nephew, it was obvious that he wasn't taking care of himself.

"Do you skip meals often?"

"Only if I've overdone it," replied Neville slowly.

"What do you mean _overdone_ it?"

Neville groaned.

"Sometimes...I can eat up to four, five or even six servings in one sitting," began Neville casually, "and if I do that then I usually skip the next meal."

Francis stared at his nephew in astonishment.

"Neville that isn't healthy at all."

"You haven't seen me when I was younger. I've always been fat which is why I can put away a lot of food but I'm trying my best not to."

"Neville you aren't fat," replied Francis softly, "whatever gave you that impression?"

Neville sighed.

"I'm trying to get rid of _this _mainly," he replied, grabbing the imaginary fat that clung to his midsection.

Francis stared at him dumbfounded.

"What are you talking about? Get rid of what?"

"Nothing," mumbled Neville, "just never mind."

"Neville are you alright? Do you want to go back to my office and talk?"

"I'm fine I-I should be getting to my next class..."

"Why don't you stop by the kitchen first and grab a bite."

"I don't have time."

Francis sighed.

"Here let me help you up."

He grabbed Neville just below the elbow and pulled him up only to have Neville fall over again.

"There will be no class for you," replied his uncle sternly. "We are going straight to the hospital wing."

"No! I'm fine I don't need to go there!"

"I think you do. The extra rest will work wonders."

"I think you are overreacting," argued Neville, "I'm fine...just leave me alone."

"Now listen here young man-"

"JUST GO!" screamed Neville. "I don't need you! I can take care of myself!"

"Not by the look of you you can't."

"What's that supposed to mean?" snapped Neville viciously.

"You're getting _weaker_ Neville. It's been apparent for awhile now...you are in no shape to go on this journey..."

"Yeah? Well I don't need you telling me what I can or can not do! Who are you to say? You're a coward remember?! You ran off and abandoned your family to marry the enemy! You betrayed my parents! What credibility do you have?!"

"Neville you need to settle down..."

"NO I _don't_! Just because you can't control your own life doesn't mean you can try to step in and control me!"

Silence.

For a moment Francis looked angry but then his anger quickly subsided and he felt extremely sad. This wasn't the Neville he had met in the beginning of the year, the boy before him right now was someone entirely different, so full of anger. He was reminded of himself as a young lad.

"Neville I apologize if I am coming on too strongly but I think you need a day to rest..."

"You're the _old man_ remember?" snarled Neville, "maybe you should be the one to rest."

Francis sighed again.

"Alright Neville you win. I'm going to leave you alone. Just remember I'm here when you need me."

Francis then turned around and left and as soon as he was alone Neville unabashedly broke down into tears.

------

The guilt of how awful he had treated his uncle that morning ate away at Neville.

He couldn't believe how vicious he had been. He had just snapped out of nowhere and he couldn't figure out why.

Lunch was about halfway through and he hadn't even had the energy to eat. Instead he sat staring blankly at his plate of food while everyone else around him chattered excitedly about how their days had been going so far.

"Neville what's wrong? You haven't said a single word," observed Ginny.

"Too tired..." he mumbled.

"Maybe you should try eating something," she suggested.

"Not hungry."

"Are you _ever_?" she asked.

"No," he answered honestly.

And this was the truth, even when he ate he wasn't eating because he was hungry but rather because he was stuffing all of his emotions deep down to where they couldn't be reached, to where he would never even think to address them.

"Have you had a bad day or something?" she asked.

"No."

"Look if you won't talk to me then...I don't even know."

"I think I'm going to go garden for a bit," he replied quietly.

"Would you like me to join you?" she asked hopeful.

"I just need to be alone right now..." he answered. "I'm sorry."

Ginny looked up at him sadly as he stood.

"Alright..." she replied with disappointment.

He left the Great Hall and went straight to the fitness center.

He had been hoping that maybe the intense dueling from that morning (along with the fact that he hadn't eaten yet today) had burned off a pound or two.

He walked straight up to the scale and removed all of his clothing except for his boxers and stepped on. He adjusted the weights until the bar balanced at one hundred and forty five pounds. He had lost two pounds!

_'Now that's the way to do it! You are right back on track!'_

Although he was happy about this he was still overwhelmingly sad, he felt like a inferi- living but without a soul. He redressed himself and decided to go to the common room and attempt to study for a little bit.

He was relieved to find it empty. He went up to the dorm to get his books and came back down and began to study.

About a half hour later he could hear voices.

"Hey mate what are you doing?"

It was Harry, closely followed by Ron.

"Studying I'm taking my mid-terms tomorrow."

"Why so soon?" asked Ron.

"Because I have something I have to do."

At that Harry stared hard at Neville.

"Like what?" pressed Ron.

"Something that doesn't involve you," replied Neville more sharply than he had intended.

"Uh," replied Ron defensively, "what's your problem? Wake up on the wrong side of the bed did we?"

"Possibly."

"Neville there is an order meeting tonight," started Harry, "I only just found out. It's been scheduled for after dinner."

"Alright."

"Come on Harry," started Ron huffily, "Neville's made it quite clear that we aren't wanted here..."

Neville got about another hour of studying in when Ginny entered.

She sat down next to him but he did not look up from his books. When she remained quiet for the next few minutes he finally looked up to see what was the matter and was alarmed to see that she had tears streaming down her face.

He finally closed his books and addressed her.

"Ginny? What's wrong?"

"Have I _done _something? Why won't you talk to me...don't you trust me?"

"No- Ginny of course I trust you-"

"I just feel like we're growing more and more distant...I know that isn't what you want for us and it's not what I want but how am I supposed to be a good girlfriend if I don't know what is going on in your life? How am I supposed to support you when you don't tell me things? I'm not asking for your entire life story...but I just- I know that something isn't right with you...I can _feel_ it..."

Neville bit his lip and watched her closely, right now his feelings were very conflicted. He should have been comforting her by wrapping her tightly in his arms and wiping away her tears, telling her everything would be alright but at the same time he felt angry, angry that she wasn't leaving him alone like he wanted, angry that she was prying where she had no right to, he felt violated and threatened. She had no right, _no right_ to accuse him of anything.

_'Who does she think she is? She's never going to leave us alone...you have to get rid of her! She's going to ruin everything! Just think- if she gets her hands on me...all of your hard work, all of your achievement...gone, just like that! She wants to control you...just like everyone else! Well they can't! Don't let her win...don't let her take me away from you...that's what she wants. She's selfish, she wants you all to herself! She doesn't care about you like I do! I take care of you...I help you get the things you want and she only wants to take them away! Get rid of her!'_

He plastered on a phony smile and grabbed her hand.

"Ginny you are being paranoid," he began, "there is absolutely nothing wrong. I'm sorry for the way I acted during lunch...I've been in kind of a weird mood today but I feel much better now that you're here."

Ginny remained tight-lipped and did not smile.

"I'll take you out to Hogsmeade later," he continued, "I'll buy you a new outfit."

Ginny shook her head slowly while another tear fell down her cheek.

"Neville Longbottom don't you _dare_ try to buy me off..."

"I'm not," he replied defensively, "I just...don't want you to be mad at me."

"Neville I'm not mad! I'm _worried _about you! And hurt that you won't tell me what's going on!"

"Once again," he began through clenched teeth as his patience wore down, "there is _nothing _wrong. How many times must I say it?"

"Until _I believe_ you. If this is just some pathetic attempt to push me away then I will tell you right now it isn't going to work!"

"Have you ever thought that maybe you're just looking for something to fight about? You're nit-picking at me to spill my feelings when I really am not feeling anything at the moment other than stress! I tell you everything else but apparently that's not good enough! What do you want from me Ginny?"

"You want me to stop caring? Fine! I'll just stop giving a shit about you is that what you want?!"

Neville stared at her with wide eyes. She was really angry, her face had gone as red as her hair and her eyes were slit to where her irises were barely visible. He had never seen her this angry before and it startled him into disbelief. Had _he_ really just made her this angry?

"Ginny...I-I'm so sorry. I had no intention of getting you so riled up...I honestly don't know what got into me."

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.

"Please...Ginny what can I do to make it up to you?"

Silence.

Neville began cursing under his breath and stood up to leave.

"Wait," she called suddenly standing up, "_talk to me_," she begged.

Neville sat back down and she sat next to him, the anger on her face quickly desolved into desperation.

"_Please_?" she prodded.

He stared at her and suddenly felt his heart breaking. _He_ was causing her to become angry and sad..._him_ of all people! He was no better than Dean who had always been upsetting her, in fact, he was _worse_ than Dean. He didn't deserve to be with Ginny, Ginny deserved so much better than him. For a split second he considered telling her everything, just to get it off his chest and who knows, maybe she could help him because he knew what he was doing wasn't normal but it comforted him. It was his security and it made everything else in his life seem a little less crazy and it kept him in control of things. It was the one thing in his life that he felt he couldn't live without, nothing else mattered, except for maybe his gran, Algie, Enid and Ginny but anything else seemed so unimportant.

Neville opened his mouth to speak but no words escaped.

Ginny's eyes sparked with hopefulness as she watched on, begging him with her eyes to say whatever was on his mind.

"I'm sorry Ginny," he finally replied firmly, "that's all I can say."

She nodded and bit her lip.

"I've got to go," he mumbled, grabbing his books. "I'll see you later."

This time Ginny did not try to stop him, instead she stared dumbly into the dying fire and began to cry.

------

The rest of the day went by so slowly. Neville couldn't stop thinking about how badly he had been screwing up. First with his uncle and now with Ginny...who else could he possibly upset before the day was over?

He hadn't seen Ginny since their argument in the common room and he was afraid to see her, in fact, he was avoiding her altogether. He felt so ashamed of his behavior and part of him wanted her to just dump him and get it over with. As much as he loved Ginny dating her was never a good idea. He would never be good enough for her, he would always be holding her back from better things and he couldn't understand why she would allow him to do so.

Dinner was in fifteen minutes and he had been in the library studying for the past two hours. He had already decided that he was going to skip dinner, not only was he not hungry but the stress and anxiety of having to be around everyone, especially Ginny, made him feel queasy. He just couldn't handle it right now.

"Neville?"

He looked up to see Hermione approaching. She sat down across from him and gave a small smile.

"Wow you've really been studying hard."

"Yeah about eight weeks too late," he began softly, "I'm just making up for lost time...not that it will do any good. I'm sure I'm going to do miserably on my mid-terms..."

"You can't think like that," began Hermione sternly, "you're only going to psych yourself out and make things worse. Just go in with a positive attitude, apply what you know and you should do fine. You can't allow yourself to get anymore stressed."

"_Too late for that_," he mumbled.

"So what happened between you and Ginny earlier?"

"Don't want to talk about it."

"Neville she was _really_ upset..."

"Hermione...I just said I _don't _want to talk about it."

"She's worried about you Neville. We _all _are...you haven't been yourself in weeks..."

"Well then _you tell_ _me _Hermione...how am I supposed to be? Who am I? I don't even think I know anymore..."

"You aren't happy...your entire life has become consumed with trying to achieve so much in so little time, with trying to please everyone...it isn't healthy. You have to just learn to accept that you can't do everything at once and right now you need to focus on _you_."

"So I suppose Ginny hates me?"

"No...no one hates you Neville."

"I wouldn't blame her," he continued, "I've been awful to her."

"Why do you say that?"

"I've been snapping at her and saying things I shouldn't...she deserves better than me."

"Neville everyone has bad days and snaps and says things they shouldn't...that doesn't make you a bad person and you are good to her. You make her happy."

"Hermione...can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Have you ever done something...that you know isn't right but you just can't help...you know, because it makes you feel good?"

Hermione stared at him baffled.

"Neville what are you talking about?"

"_Nothing_," he muttered, "I should really get back to studying."

"Well dinner is almost ready. Why don't you take a break and then come back to it."

Neville shook his head vigilantly.

"I can't I've _got_ to study."

"But you've been studying _all _day...you can take a few minutes to eat something."

"I'm not hungry."

"How can you not be hungry? You haven't eaten at all today."

"I just can...okay?"

"I really think you need to take a break...you're letting yourself get overwhelmed."

"Yeah? Well I really think you should worry about yourself and leave me alone."

Hermione looked hurt but tried to remain unphased.

"You need to stop punishing yourself..."

"What?" exclaimed Neville sharply.

"In your mind you just...see yourself as this bad person when you aren't. You just...don't have any confidence, you set yourself up for failure because that is all you know. I think you're afraid to succeed...I think you're afraid of what success might bring..."

"Just like _you _are afraid to be wrong...and you are."

"Neville...I think you need to talk to someone- someone who can help you deal with this."

"Talk to someone about what and to deal with what? What is there to talk about? About how I'm being asked to help defeat Voldemort when I'm clearly not the right person for the job? About how screwed up I am and how I'm a lost cause? This wouldn't be something no one already didn't know."

"You have to be strong mentally in order to do this," she replied.

"Are you suggesting that I'm not?"

"No not at all-"

"Because that's what it sounds like to me."

"You can't keep depriving yourself of sleep and food...it's beginning to affect you negatively. I know you probably think it makes you stronger in some way but it doesn't. It's making you weaker and you aren't going to be able to continue for much longer like this. It's going to catch up with you."

"I don't know what you're talking about and I'm _not depriving_ myself of anything."

"You've always got an excuse ready when it comes to not eating and no one is buying it anymore."

"_I eat_ Hermione...so you can stop with your pointless lecture. You've seen me! Everyone's seen me!"

"Yeah but when you do you stuff yourself to the point where you can't even move! And more often you _don't_ eat than do."

They both fell silent and Neville felt the anger building up inside of him again, first Ginny thinks she can accuse him of things and now Hermione? Who did they think they were? They weren't his mother! They had _no_ right to speak to him as they had been. He would never speak to anyone like that, with his finger pointed and ready to accuse. He was suddenly beginning to grow paranoid and wondered if they had been talking to each other and were planning to gang up on him. This only made his anger grow greater.

"You know," he began feverishly, "If you worried about yourself a little more instead of me...maybe Ron or other blokes in general would actually take notice of you but obviously that's not something you are very interested in now is it?"

Hermione's mouth fell open and she stared hard at Neville with tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

Neville suddenly realized that he had gone too far but he didn't care. Whatever he had to do to get her off his back he would, no matter what the cost. He couldn't have her ruining all of the hard work he has put in. He'd find a way to make it up to her eventually but she was getting _too close_ to figuring things out and he had to throw whatever he could at her to change her sense of direction, he had to blindside her so she would forget about him.

Without a word Hermione slowly stood up and walked out of the library.

Neville immediately was plagued with guilt, he left his books lying open and ran out of the library to the nearest washroom and lunged for the toilet where he began violently heaving up the contents of his stomach, which was nothing but bile and acid.

------

Neville quickly made his way to Hagrid's hut where he was to meet Harry and his uncle so they could travel together for the order meeting. He was hoping he wouldn't have to interact with anyone along the way and he gladly got his wish. When he arrived Harry had been sitting inside visiting with Hagrid, his uncle and cousins had not yet arrived.

"Why hallo thar Neville! How ye been?"

"Fine," he mumbled unconvincingly.

"Why th' lon' face boy?"

"Nothing...just tired."

"Missed you at dinner..." began Harry, "everything alright?"

"Yeah. Just been studying."

Neville sat quietly in the corner while Harry and Hagrid continued to visit.

The shame and horror at how awful he had been treating those closest to him was finally beginning to sink in and it literally made him want to run to the washroom and vomit some more but he had nothing left in him to throw up. He was completely empty.

About five minutes later Francis entered, followed by Nelie and Maitland and also rather unexpectedly, Ron and Hermione.

Neville's heart sank. It was bad enough he was going to have to be around one person he'd wronged today but now two? He immediately averted his eyes as they walked in and tried to calm his nerves but nothing seemed to work.

"Hello Neville are you feeling any better?"

He finally looked up to see his uncle smiling down at him.

"A little," he lied.

"Good. Well are we all ready?"

Neville quickly stood up and rushed out the door and began to walk ahead of everyone. He couldn't bare to walk with them due to the immense shame and embarrassment he felt. He didn't deserve to walk alongside them. Besides they probably didn't want him around them anyways.

When they arrived at the gates they apparated to Number 12 Grimmauld place and walked inside of Sirius' home. They had been the first to arrive and moments later Sirius greeted them happily, immediately embracing Hermione and Ron.

Neville took the farthest seat away from everyone and hoped they would all leave him alone and surprisingly they did.

"We've been staying here," began Nelie to Ron and Hermione, "we've been having loads of fun."

"Yes...maybe a bit _too_ much," confirmed Sirius. "However now it's time to get down to business. The prophecy has been revealed once more and it is time for us to prepare for what is to come. We've got a long and treacherous journey ahead of us...times are about to get very dark."

What Sirius had just said sent goosebumps all over Neville's body. The reality of what was happening had never felt more real.

"So when will we become official order members?" asked Maitland.

"That's not for me to decide," answered Sirius. "Just wait...the time will come eventually."

Sirius looked over towards Neville and then to Francis.

"What's with him?" he asked quietly.

Francis sighed.

"Other than rampant, teenage hormones? I wish I knew."

"He's been very distant lately," added Hermione, "He won't talk to anyone. He just keeps shutting himself away."

"Well that isn't good," continued Sirius, "we need to break him of that...otherwise it may be used against him in the worst way imaginable."

Sirius left momentarily and returned with a platter full of chocolate chip cookies, fudge brownies, chocolate frogs, pastries and all kinds of other grossly fattening treats and set them down on the table.

"Help yourselves," he began, "thought you might all be hungry."

Everyone except for Francis and Neville grabbed something.

"Still not a fan of the sweets, eh Francis?"

Francis shook his head.

"Never really have been."

"What about you Neville? There's plenty to go around."

"No thank you. I'm not hungry."

"Alright, suit yourself."

As Neville observed the food, it was suddenly brought to his attention that his stomach had been protesting his decision not to eat. Part of Neville wanted to go over there and satisfy the dull aching of his stomach by feeding it but at the same time, simply watching with disgust as Ron and his cousins devoured piece after piece of chocolates and other fatty toxins and licking their sticky, gooey fingers afterwards made him want to heave right then and there. Just the thought that he could easily devour the entire contents of that platter in minutes made him feel even queasier than he had already felt. The shame continued to grow. He could never win.

Within the next ten minutes the rest of the order members gradually began to file in. First came Charlie, (whom caused Nelie to blush the moment he walked in) followed by Fred and George (who both fought over who would get to talk to Nelie first) and later Tonks and Remus, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mad-Eye Moody, Snape and finally Dumbledore.

Dumbledore wasted no time in starting the meeting and began to speak before he even had a chance to sit down.

"Welcome everyone and thank you for arriving on such late notice. As you all have been informed the prophecy has been reiterated to Neville through the unconscious spirit of Maven Carling as of last night, which can only mean one thing..." Dumbledore paused, his eyes twinkling. "The war has begun."

Everyone in the room remained silent, it wasn't a stunned silence but rather a chilling one that made everything seem more frightening and depressing.

"Neville has received my permission to take his mid-terms tomorrow evening so that he will be given extra time to descend upon his journey in finding and destroying Blydlliss' key. Now the time has come for us to expect the unexpected and to prepare for the worst but to fight diligently and until not one good wizard is left standing. Good and bad wizards alike will die and there are more of them than us but we can not let them see our fear, that is what they want. All of our greatest fears are trapped within Mindossanya's Well and if they should be released...it would bring great destruction to our world and living without fear will be impossible."

Neville began to feel panicky. The room began to spin and as Dumbledore continued to talk all he heard was noise that had no meaning. What he was saying didn't make sense, he was hearing it but he couldn't comprehend it.

"Now we need to decide who will be accompanying Neville on his journey. Would anyone care to volunteer?"

Immediately Nelie and Maitland's hands shot up.

At this Snape rolled his eyes.

"You can't expect these..._children_ to know enough to be taken seriously for such a task?"

"Hey!" snapped Maitland. "We aren't _children_...we're highly qualified aurors in training...I could bet we've had more experience than any of you by our age."

Dumbledore's eyes began to twinkle even more.

"Francis?" he questioned, looking at the graying Longbottom.

"Well...they are very highly trained but I don't think they're ready to be on their own just yet at least not unsupervised."

"You are treating us like children!" argued Nelie. "We've dealt with more than you think! We know how to handle ourselves!"

Francis sighed. "I'll go with them," he continued.

"Actually Francis I was hoping I may ask you to remain at Hogwarts, to train the remaining students for battle if it should become necessary they fight. We must be prepared for anything at any moment."

Francis nodded in agreement.

"Albus if I may volunteer to go in his place."

Dumbledore nodded.

"Very well Severus."

Neville's heart dropped to his feet. He hadn't had to deal with Snape in weeks and now he was going to be stuck with him during his search? He wanted to protest, to scream or to just run out of the room but he was frozen and without a voice.

"Professor...I'd like to go too if that's alright. I-I don't have to go right away but I'd like to join them just as soon as I can."

"Of course Harry."

The other members of the order began to discuss the ordinance of their duties and Neville was simply numb. He had lost all sense of feeling and was there in body but his mind had checked out of the meeting since it began.

"Tomorrow evening Neville will take his mid-terms and then those who are venturing on the journey will all meet here and we will further devise a plan and means of communication along with a map of what locations you will be traveling to..."

Neville suddenly found his feet and jumped up out of his chair abruptly.

Everyone stared at him with surprise as he ran out of the room and into the hallway.

He grabbed at the wall with both hands to keep from falling to the floor and tried to steady his breathing. This was _really_ happening. He wasn't just imagining it, this was actually happening. He was about to be thrust into an even bigger world of chaos only now the chances of failure or death were looming right over him like a big, black rain cloud. He couldn't run from it. He couldn't escape it. He was trapped.

A few moments later the doors quietly slid open and he heard footsteps approaching him.

"Neville what's the matter?"

It was Hermione.

"Just...needed a moment. I'm fine now."

"You look awful," she began, "and you're shaking..."

"I'm fine...really."

"Here why don't you sit down for a minute."

"Hermione I'm fine now...you can go back inside. Tell them I'll be in in a minute."

"When are you going to stop and realize that you need our help?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You can't do this alone," she began hurriedly, moving in closer towards him, "you need our help. Look at you...you're falling apart right before our eyes and the war has only just begun. How are you going to manage through the rest of it?"

"I'll find a way," he mumbled.

"You need to tell someone what's going on..."

"There is _nothing _going on!"

"If this is your way of coping then you are going about it the wrong way. You need to find another outlet...something that isn't going to kill you!"

"Rubbish! You don't know what you're talking about...you just like to focus on other people so you can feel better about yourself!"

"Look I know you may think you're fooling everyone else but you're not fooling me. You need to knock this off _now_."

"Knock what off?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"You think people haven't noticed how much you've changed?" she began, her tone falling dangerously. "How different you've become? It's like you aren't even yourself anymore...it's like you are being controlled by someone else. You're distant, constantly moody, tired and weak...you get defensive if anyone tries to talk to you...whatever is going on you need to take care of it now before it becomes even more of a problem."

"_Do I_?"

Hermione groaned.

"Drop the attitude!"

"I don't have an attitude," he replied, "you're just wasting your breath. Save it for someone who needs it."

"_That_ is what I'm talking about!" she shouted, "the old Neville would have _never_ talked to anyone like that! What is happening to you?"

"Have you ever thought that maybe you and everyone else are the ones with the problem? I'm perfectly fine...it's not my fault so many people love to stir up trouble and make a big deal out of nothing...then it snowballs and becomes this huge, imaginary issue that doesn't even exist!"

"Listen to yourself!" she screamed, "you sound delusional! You don't think that you not eating isn't a problem?!"

"You're overreacting," replied Neville calmly.

"No I'm not! And if you don't tell someone about what's going on with you then_ I_ will and I know you don't want that."

"Whoa- what's going on out here? Tell someone what?"

They both turned around and found themselves face to face with professor Lupin, who had just stepped out to check on them after the remainder of the order heard them shouting- which apparently had been so loud they didn't even hear him come out.

"Oh Professor- I mean Remus hi..." mumbled Hermione.

He raised his eyebrow suspiciously and eyed his two former students.

"Uh…we were just..._talking_..." she continued awkwardly.

Remus placed his hands on his hips.

"_Talking_ huh?" he began, moving his eyes between both of them, "then how come we could all hear you both shouting from inside with both doors closed?"

"Alright...so we were having a rather heated discussion," she replied lamely. "About...his quidditch... "

Hermione blushed, realizing how ridiculous and far-fetched what she had just said seemed and looked at Neville who in turn looked back at her, praying silently that she wouldn't reveal anything to the older werewolf.

"One of you had better start talking," he pressed gently.

"I just told you," she replied firmly.

"Hermione would you mind giving Neville and I a minute alone please?"

She nodded and gave Neville one last solemn look before returning to the meeting.

"Come here," beckoned the werewolf.

Remus led Neville into a small study down the hall and sat him down. He pulled a chair up so that their knees were practically touching.

"Look I know that you weren't discussing quidditch so spill it because I'll find out otherwise. What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"I don't believe you."

"That's fine, you wouldn't be the first not to. I don't know why everyone is making such a fuss over me anyways."

"You want to know why Neville? Believe it or not you have a lot of people who care about you and are very worried for you. We are all here to help you in any way we possibly can but in order for us to do that you need to talk to us."

"I-I know…but nothing is wrong. I'm just stressed for obvious reasons nothing more I swear."

The werewolf could sense that the boy was lying.

"I was a teenager once and I know what it is like. It's very hard but if you have a problem it would be best that you tell someone so that you can get the support you need."

"I don't have a problem." Neville replied defensively. "Why does everyone keep assuming I have some sort of a problem? I'm_ fine_!"

The werewolf sighed.

"Francis is concerned with your lack of care for yourself...if you have something you need to say you need to do so now because otherwise it will need to be brought to Dumbledore's attention and if that happens he will not allow for you to set out on your journey as planned."

"Oh so now everyone is ready to believe _Francis_ over _me_? He doesn't know anything about me! He just decides to come back into my life after seventeen years and act as though he knows me? He's a traitor and a coward! Have people seem to have forgotten that?! He _betrayed _my parents! He sold my family out and could have gotten them killed! He's a selfish, evil and manipulative bastard! Did you know he attempted to steal the key from my father for his own benefits? How can he be trusted?! He _married_ Althalos Bloodworth's daughter! H-he's the one with problems!"

"Now Neville calm down..."

"No! Everyone keeps telling me to calm down! Why should I calm down? Would _you_ be calm if you were in my shoes?!"

"It probably feels like we are all attacking you but I promise we aren't...we're simply trying to figure out how we can help you."

"You want to know how you can help me?" began Neville coldly, "by minding your own fucking business and leaving me alone!"

And with that he stood up and stormed out.

------

There was no way in hell Neville was going to return to the meeting.

He quickly made his way down the hallway and out the door where he apparated back to Hogwarts. Just as he was about to go inside the castle he caught a glimpse of someone up in the astronomy tower and his heart leapt when he saw a glimpse of red out of the corner of his eye. He slowly made his way to the top to find Ginny by herself and she immediately stood when he arrived.

"Neville," she began surprised. "What are you doing here?"

But before he could answer he ran to her and picked her up and swung her around in a lung crushing hug. He set her down and continued to hold her tightly. He had never been happier to see her. She had instantly melted away all of his the negative feelings he had just experienced while at the order meeting and left him with a feeling of immense relief, and right now he needed some kind of comfort and she happened to be right where he needed her.

"Oh god Ginny," he began tearfully. "I'm so sorry! I was being an idiot! I've been so angry and sick with myself all day! I'm so glad to see you!"

Ginny had been so taken aback by Neville's spontaneous burst of emotion that her brain hadn't even had time to send out a signal to her arms to reciprocate the hug and instead they were left sticking up awkwardly in the air. She slowly wrapped her arms around him tightly and began to rub his back in a circular motion.

"Are you alright?" she asked with alarm.

"I just feel so awful with how I treated you earlier...I-I promise...I'll start talking to you about things. I _need_ you Ginny...more than anything."

Ginny's mouth fell open with surprise.

"You mean it?" she asked, as she gently pulled away from him so she could look at him.

He nodded.

Ginny answered him by pulling him down into a ferociously passionate kiss. Their lips moved hungrily against each other as though they had been star crossed lovers who had just been reunited for the first time after being forced apart, the kissing soon grew more desperate and hurried as though they were running out of time. When their lips finally did part they both panted and gasped, their lungs begging for air. Sparks flew between them once again as they locked eyes, just as when they had kissed for the very first time.

Neville grabbed her hand and they sat down.

"I'm just so overwhelmed," he began, "I feel like everyone is judging me and waiting for me to fail...everyone keeps hounding me and I just can't take it! I wish I could just go back to being ignored...I preferred it much more that way."

"It's perfectly normal to feel this way but you don't deserve to be ignored Neville. You are such a wonderful person with so many amazing qualities to share. You just have to learn to block out the things that don't matter. Who cares what anyone else thinks? We've been over this...it's about what you think. I promise you you are going to get through this...you have so many people rooting for you and you don't even realize it."

"I miss my gran..." began Neville sadly, "she's really overbearing most of the time but she'd talk some sense into me and toughen me up for all of this."

"You'll see her soon," reassured Ginny. "Hopefully I will get to meet her too."

"I just can't seem to please anyone...not even myself."

"You please _me_..." replied Ginny softly, nuzzling her head against his chest.

"I'm just...I'm ready now to face whatever comes and I don't care what happens to me but I'm scared of letting everyone down. What if I can't find that key? What if I screw everything up and our world completely goes to hell because of me? How could I ever live that down?"

"You need to just take it a day at a time Neville," began Ginny, "you can't think about those things right now because it will only make things worse. Just focus on what you need to do _now _and worry about the rest later and I know you, you will _not_ fail. We're all here behind you the entire way, whatever we can do to help we will. It isn't going to be fun or easy but it's what you are supposed to do. Everything happens for a reason...including this. This is your chance to show everyone what you are made of- to prove those who never believed in you wrong. I have faith in you and I love you."

Neville wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer.

"Thank you Ginny..." he began softly, "that's exactly what I needed to hear."

------

**Author's Note:** Hey! So we're finally about to get into the real gritty stuff in upcoming chapters! Neville's journey has officially begun! A lot going on in this chapter as well...along with a _very_ **angsty!**Neville (which as I've mentioned before is _not _him but rather his ED taking over him more...which as you can see by how many people confronted poor Neville in this chapter that it's getting harder for him to hide) so with the next chapter Neville will take his mid-terms and set off to find Blydlliss' key (a.k.a. the key to fear). Thank you all for sticking with my story and as I promised it's about to get a lot more interesting! There will be long, insidious battles, more romance, a little comedy and even some *gasp* tragedy! This story will have it all! I appreciate all of my followers and reviewers so much and this has truly been such an amazing experience writing this story which I believe has developed rather nicely and better than I could have ever imagined! Please, _please_ keep up with the reviews! Give me feedback, reviews or any encouraging comments! It helps feed me the energy and motivation I need to keep up with this story! Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed! Chapter 25 to follow! :)


	26. Accessories

**Author's Note: **Some of you guys are still being sneaky ;) so I figured I'd add a note up here just to make sure it actually gets read! First of all sorry for the ridiculously delayed update! . I've just been so busy working! Anyways, thanks so much for the 'favorites' and reviews and to all of my followers but I'd still like to get a few more reviews from different people, I don't ever want to have to go on hiatus again...:( Thanks again!

------

**Chapter 25: **Accessories

When Neville had awoken that morning he immediately packed his bags, showered, dressed and headed to the library to study. His classes had all been canceled for the day so he could use the time for last minute studying and while he was incredibly nervous, he was finally starting to feel a little better and began to gather a sense that he could actually do alright on his mid-terms. Ginny had come in to see him numerous times throughout the day to encourage him and simply just to be with him before he headed off on his journey. Surprisingly she hadn't mentioned anything about him skipping out on breakfast and lunch, much to Neville's delight, although she had brought in all kinds of snacks for him- which unbeknownst to her, the second she left he calmly got up and disposed of them in the trash bin.

He was too worked up to eat, his eyes hadn't left his books all except for the times Ginny had made visits. Neville wanted so badly to do well on his mid-terms, to score higher than what was expected of him, to exceed his and his gran's expectations by miles. He wanted to make her proud, he wanted to prove that the last seven years of training as a wizard hadn't been a fluke, that he wasn't a stupid, worthless lump who would never amount to anything. That the boy who was once thought to be a squib had finally succeeded in something and what he also began to realize was that he didn't just want this for his gran, he wanted it for _himself_.

Neville took a quick peek down at his pocket watch, it was three-thirty. He had completely forgotten about their quidditch game today against Ravenclaw but had already informed Dean yesterday that he wouldn't be able to participate. He put down his quill for a moment and walked over to the window where he could see the quidditch game proceeding on without him. He wished he could have been out there, scoring goals left and right, which in his mind even the thought of scoring qualified as arrogance but he felt as if he deserved a free pass, it's not like he had ever been good at much else other than gardening.

A few minutes later he tore himself away from the window and returned to his seat. Now he suddenly didn't feel like studying, he had burned himself out. He decided now would probably be a good time to take a break of some sorts. He left his open books lying on the table and slowly wandered out of the library. He briefly thought of going to watch the game but then decided that would probably be a bad idea, considering they all thought he was studying and if he had time to show up and watch then they'd wonder why he wasn't playing. So he opted to go down to the prefect's washroom and chat with Myrtle.

When he arrived, he called out her name cautiously.

"Myrtle? You in here?"

He waited a few moments for her to pop up but when she didn't he left and decided to walk around the castle for a little bit before returning to his studies. After about twenty minutes of walking aimlessly he found himself going down another darkened corridor that looked highly unfamiliar. He noticed that as he continued following the path the area was getting smaller and the walls seemed to be closing in until eventually he had to turn and walk sideways. When he reached the end of the corridor there was a large wooden door, he grabbed hold of the circular handle and pulled it open. He walked inside the darkened room and held up his wand to look around, "lumos," the room had been empty except for a mirror standing in the corner. Curious Neville slowly made his way to it, he examined it and wiped away the dust that had coated the glass, it appeared to be very old. At the top of the mirror was an inscription which read:

_erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_

Neville's brain had been in overdrive for the past few days so he didn't ponder too much on the meaning, he simply stood before the mirror and observed his sad reflection staring back at him. His hair had grown so long that his curls (which he hated) were beginning to take on a life of their own, his face was pale, his cheekbones prominent and sharp, looking as though they could cut you, his eyes were dark and shadowed with many sleep deprived nights and his robes hung off of him as though he were a child who had been fitted with robes that were much too big to begin with, of course, this was not what Neville saw. He saw the same round face he had been plagued with since birth, he saw multiple chins, a grossly, protruding stomach that even his robes couldn't hide and two very large feet barely capable of holding up his burdensome body. He sighed and turned to the side- as if that would make a difference- only to see the same thing.

Neville was about to leave when suddenly the image reflected in the mirror began to change. Neville stood and stared in disbelief as he saw his frown morph into a beaming white smile, seconds later the happy faces of his gran, Algie and Enid appeared- who were crowded around him, smiling proudly and finally Ginny appeared next to him, holding his hand which had been fitted with a rather elegant wedding band.

Neville removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes hard but when he looked again nothing had changed. He was still staring at his family and Ginny around him. Had this been some sort of a sign that he was slowly losing his sanity or was this mirror perhaps enchanted with some sort of magic? Perhaps it was a mirror that showed the future- but he immediately ruled out the possibility because as much as Neville wanted it, he knew he'd never end up with Ginny- he continued to stare into the mirror, his reflection was happy, he looked accomplished and proud and fearless, as if he hadn't carried a single weight of burden in his entire life. He looked completely..._weightless_ and free, basically the opposite of the way he felt now, he felt weighed down by all sorts of troubles.

Neville slowly began to back away from the mirror until he finally tore his eyes away and left the room.

------

It was now six o' clock and Ginny had come in right after their game ended to let him know that they had won. Neville hugged her and congratulated her, he was genuinely happy that his team had won but deep down it also made him feel sad. Logically he knew that _he _wasn't the reason that they had won their other games, it was all of them working together as a team but at the same time he sometimes couldn't help but think that if he hadn't joined the team that they wouldn't be winning game after game. He couldn't help but think that they'd lose today's game due to his absence but that was a rather silly and arrogant thought and he knew it, it depressed him in more ways than one because he hated that he allowed for himself to get so confident that he could ever see himself as being the _sole_ reason for something good happening and also he was depressed because the irrational side of him began to think that maybe they didn't need him on the team. If they could win without him then surely he wasn't as good a player as he thought. He quickly shook away all of these thoughts and tried to refocus on Ginny's happiness.

"So how's the studying going?"

"Good," he replied, and was about to tell her about the strange mirror and what he saw in it until he decided not to, she had already been worried enough about him as it was and the last thing he wanted was for her to think that he was crazy as well.

"So...will you be coming to dinner?"

"No the snacks you've left me have been enough."

"You're going to do great Neville."

"I hope so...because right now I can't really afford to do anything less."

Ginny bit her lip.

"Why do you put so much pressure on yourself?"

"Ginny...I'm doing this for _me_. This is my last year and I want to graduate with honors and prove that the duration of my seven years spent here wasn't just a waste of time and that I've actually learned something that can benefit me throughout my life. I want to make my gran proud."

"And she _will be _Neville..."

"You don't know my gran," began Neville slowly, "I know she only wants what is best for me but she doesn't stand for failure, the word is not in her vocabulary. Even if something happens to be good enough for me it never is for her and I want this to be the year that we finally can agree on something."

Ginny nodded and grabbed his hand.

"I don't want you to leave," she whispered.

"I have to Ginny."

"I know..." she mumbled glumly. "How long will you be gone?"

"I don't know," he replied.

"You still promise to come to the burrow for a visit whenever you find time?"

He smiled.

"Of course."

"I wish I could go with you..." she replied with a pout. "I always get left out of everything."

"I wish you could too Ginny, believe me I don't know how I'm going to be able to get on without you."

"You have a lot of people looking after you."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Neville wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. The sweet smell of her made his nostrils flare with delight and after tonight he wouldn't be able to smell her or touch her or look at her. He gently began to run his fingers through her vibrant red hair, he wanted to memorize everything about her, to where it was emblazoned in his memory and he couldn't forget even if his memory were wiped clean. Every line and crevice of her face, every freckle, the light flecks of amber in her brown eyes, every curve of her body. It broke his heart to have to leave her.

He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it.

"Ginny I need to tell you something..."

She lifted her head off his chest and turned to him.

"What?" she drew out with concern.

Neville hesitated.

"Hope I'm not interrupting something."

Neville and Ginny turned around to see Harry standing behind them awkwardly.

"Not at all," replied Neville, who waved for Harry to sit across from them while Ginny stared hard at him, still waiting with anticipation for whatever it was he was about to reveal.

"How's the studying going?" asked Harry.

"Good...I'm a little burned out but I think I'm ready."

"Good," replied Harry slowly as he looked from Neville to Ginny and back to Neville as he cleared his throat. "Er," he continued, "I was uh hoping I could talk to Neville alone for a minute..."

Neville turned to Ginny who shook her head in protest.

"Ginny do you mind?"

"Yes I do mind. Neville was just about to tell me something...can't it wait?"

"Actually it can't," replied Harry hurriedly. "I promise I won't take long."

Ginny stared at Neville, waiting for him to tell Harry that _he_ would be the one who would have to wait but that never happened.

"Ginny...just give us a minute, okay?"

For at least a full minute Ginny just sat with a look of hurt and anger on her face before she finally got up and left.

"Sorry 'bout that mate," muttered Harry sheepishly, "trust me though, it really couldn't wait."

"What is it then?"

"Well I uh...found your dad's journal..."

Neville's face lit up. He had somehow misplaced his father's journal within the last couple of days and was in a panic over it since one, it had sentimental value and two, if the wrong person happened upon it it could prove disastrous.

"Where'd you find it?"

"Malfoy had it..."

"_What_?!"

"Yeah I caught him flipping through it just a few moments ago in the dungeon- soon as he saw me he shoved it in his robes and began to run but I got to him and got it back. I asked him what he was doing with it and how he got it but he wouldn't talk...and then Snape came and broke us up..."

"So do you have it now?"

"Er...that's the thing..." began Harry, as he began to rub the back of his neck nervously, "Snape took it from me..."

"_WHAT_?!"

"I'm sure there's reason for it..."

"_SNAPE_ has _MY DAD'S_ journal?!" Neville was furious, what gave Snape the right to take something of _his_ that had once belonged to his father? Just the thought of Snape's slimy, greasy white hands on his father's journal, flipping through it uninvited and delving into some of his father's most private memories made him fume even more.

"I'm sorry Neville..."

Neville jumped up and quickly began taking long, strident steps out of the library. Harry had to run just to catch up to him.

"Neville what are you doing?"

"Going to Snape myself and demanding that he give it back."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"I really don't care-"

"Look you don't want to do anything stupid or provoke him the night before you're supposed to set off with him away from Hogwarts! He could murder you and no one would find out until it was too late!"

"Just as well as I could murder him!"

Harry eventually stopped and watched as Neville disappeared down the corridor towards the dungeon.

When he arrived he burst inside to find Snape sitting at his desk grading papers.

"I want my father's journal back _now_."

Snape looked up and cocked an eyebrow in amusement, although he still wore his usual scowl.

"Mr. Longbottom, as you can see I am busy at the moment and that journal will be of no use to you now."

"How do you know?! Why do you even have it? Why did MALFOY even have it? What did he do sneak into my dorm and steal it? In fact I bet _you _put him up to it!"

"I can assure you the purposes of Malfoy's intentions are being investigated as we speak but I will not discuss the issue any further. You may leave."

Neville glared at Snape, his mouth slightly open and his eyes narrowed with hate.

Snape had taken so much from him, including whatever was left of his broken self-esteem and shambles of his dignity but he would _not_ allow for him to take this.

"I want it and if you don't give it to me I'll take it."

Snape went on to ignore Neville which caused him to snap.

Without warning Neville grabbed his wand and pointed it at Snape.

"LEGILIMENS!"

Light erupted and the contents of Snape's mind began to play out in Neville's, he briefly saw Snape as a child and as a teenager, he saw him receiving the dark mark and as the memories became more recent Neville used his mind to control which ones he wanted to see. Eventually he came to what just took place moments before, he saw Snape breaking up Harry and Malfoy's scuffle, he snatched the journal from Malfoy's hands and after sending them on their way he walked swiftly back to the dungeon and began to examine the journal closely, without reading any of the actual content inside he began looking it over from cover to cover, inside and out, it was as if he were searching for something. Then Snape hearing the sound of Neville barreling down the corridor quickly placed the journal under a pile of papers and made it look to seem as though he were grading papers.

Neville eased his mind and the memory disappeared, when he refocused on Snape once more he saw that he had stood up and was fuming. His face was twisted with disgust and his beady, black eyes were wide with hate.

"LONGBOTTOM!"

Neville dodged past Snape and grabbed the journal from under the papers and high tailed it out of the dungeon. He didn't even want an explanation, he didn't care how dangerously angry he had just made Snape, all he cared about was that he had his father's journal back and that he wasn't going to let it out of his sight ever again. From now on he would carry it everywhere he went, he couldn't risk losing it again.

He continuously looked back to make sure Snape hadn't run after him and when he was sure he went to the library, collected his books and was practically ready to collapse by the time he reached Dumbledore's office.

The surge of adrenaline still pumping through his veins must have made him forget his manners because he burst into his office without knocking.

"I'm ready to take the exam," he replied breathlessly.

"Hello Mr. Longbottom," replied Dumbledore, who had been sitting behind his desk reading The Daily Prophet. "Wouldn't you like to eat dinner first?"

Neville shook his head vigilantly.

"No...just I'm ready now. I want to get an early start."

"As you wish."

Dumbledore stood up and motioned Neville over to his desk, he gently sat him down in his chair and began to clear off his desk.

"Oh no...sir I don't have to sit here..."

"It may take awhile and I want you to be comfortable," replied the aging wizard, his blue eyes twinkling. "It is about time I go about the castle anyway, maybe get some fresh air. I have been cooped up in here all day doing such nonsense."

Dumbledore pulled out a thick binder and placed it in front of Neville, who stared at it and gulped. Maybe he did have reason to worry. What if he hadn't studied hard enough? What if he didn't finish in time? What if he suddenly forgot everything he had learned?

"Whenever you are ready you may begin. You have three hours to complete the exam. I will see you when I return and good luck to you Mr. Longbottom."

As soon as he left Neville wasted no time in eagerly ripping open the binder and getting started.

------

Neville had just finished looking over his exam, he set down his quill and glanced at his pocket watch. It was eight forty-five which meant dinner hadn't even ended yet. Over all he felt alright about the exam, there were very few questions that he didn't know the answer to but the majority of the answers jumped right out at him causing him to soar through the exam in no time. He was pleased that he had finished early with time to spare, this would give him enough time to say good-bye to everyone before he set off to Sirius' for the night.

He got up and headed for the great hall where he sat down next to Ginny.

"Wow are you already finished?" she asked with surprise.

"I started early."

"So how do you think it went?"

"Well...let's just say I can finally relax."

Ginny smiled.

"You want the rest of my dinner?" she offered, sliding her plate over to him.

"No thanks."

She frowned but said nothing.

"Well then I guess I'm finished. Want to go for a walk?"

"Sure," he replied, happy to be leaving.

They walked out to the astronomy tower and climbed up.

"So this is it then? You're leaving tonight..."

"Yeah just as soon as Francis is ready. I'll be staying at Sirius' tonight and Francis is going to see us off."

"That's very nice of him..." she replied sadly, wishing she could do the same.

"I'll owl you everyday. I promise."

Ginny smiled.

"Well...don't be worried if I don't owl you back right away," she teased, "Merlin knows I'll be busy. Plus on top of that I hardly ever check for mail."

Neville chuckled.

"I'm really going to miss you Ginny."

"Let's not allow for this to get too mushy or I'm going to start to cry."

"It's okay Ginny."

"No it isn't..."

"I promise you I'll be fine."

"Don't..."

"Don't what?"

"Don't say that."

Silence.

"I bought you something earlier..." began Ginny quietly, "as sort of a parting gift."

"Ginny you didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to...here."

She reached into her robes and pulled out a small square package wrapped up in silver paper.

He slowly began to open it and when he saw what was inside he gasped and looked at her in awe.

"Ginny! How did you...why did you-"

"You're welcome," she replied with a cheeky smile.

"Thank you! B-but...how did you pay for this? I-I don't need this..."

"I had a little help..." she revealed with a slight blush.

Neville gently pulled the round object out of the box and held it up. It was a compass, (a highly expensive one at that) although not any ordinary compass, it was enchanted and capable of providing not only direction, but also the month, time of day, it could record reminders and be used to communicate among many other things.

"I saw you looking at it through the window that night we were at Hogsmeade. I figured it'd come in quite handy for your search."

Neville picked her up and hugged her tightly.

"Ginny...this is the nicest and most considerate gift anyone has ever gotten for me. Thank you."

"I expect you to use it," she teased, "I only forked up my family's entire life's savings for it...while your uncle pitched in for the rest."

"Wow..." replied Neville, not knowing what else to say.

"So yeah...you should probably get going...say good-bye to everyone else and then set off, yeah?"

Neville nodded but he didn't want to leave her just yet even though he knew he should, the longer he waited the more difficult it would become. He now realized why Ginny had come in so many times to visit him in the library throughout the day as he had been studying, she had done it to make it just a little bit easier for when the time came to say good-bye, she was letting go just a little at a time.

They held on to each other and kissed once more before heading back into the castle. They made their way to the common room where everyone was gathered, they all knew Neville was leaving but only Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Harry knew the reason why.

"Bye all...I'll be back hopefully in a few weeks..." he trailed off as his heart sank, a few weeks was quite wishful thinking, he knew deep down that the search would take much longer than that but he didn't want to upset Ginny anymore than she already was.

Hermione came up and hugged him tightly.

"Keep us posted on everything," she whispered into his ear, "and _be careful_."

He shook hands with Harry and then Ron and was about to leave when someone cleared their throat. It was Dean, who had stepped out from behind the others and approached Neville, both standing eye to eye.

"Look uh...I know we haven't been at our best graces lately but I just want to say that I'm willing to put all of that behind us. And whatever it is that you are going to do...good luck."

"Thanks Dean you have no idea how much that means."

They shook hands and with one final wave Neville summoned his already packed bags and went on his way.

------

When Neville and Francis reached grimmauld place they entered to find Sirius, Dumbledore, Nelie and Maitland all sitting at the table awaiting their arrival, he immediately relaxed at noticing Snape's absence but didn't question it.

"And not a moment too soon," started the old wizard, "Mr. Longbottom there have been a slight change of plans..."

Neville dropped his bags and looked to everyone in the room with confusion.

"What kind of a change in plans?" he asked worriedly and with a slight irritation that he hadn't been informed of this earlier.

"I shall let Cornelia be the one to inform you," replied Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling more so than usual.

He turned to his cousins to see that Nelie could no longer contain her smile and even Maitland was grinning a little.

"Well...we're aren't going to be staying here tonight," she began.

"Why not?" asked Neville. He had already told Ginny he'd be here and he was so exhausted that he didn't think he could take anymore, he was ready to go to bed right then. He glanced at his uncle who had nodded at his daughter to continue.

"Because we're going to be staying at our place...where your family is safely awaiting your arrival."

Neville's heart suddenly leapt with joy and his face brightened. When he had just a moment ago been tired enough to fall asleep he had instantly been revived and shocked with a thousand jolts of adrenaline.

"Really?" he asked, unable to contain his excitement. He hugged his uncle and the feelings of happiness that came through him was overwhelming.

"When are we leaving?" he asked.

"Right now," answered Maitland with a grin.

"But wait..." began Neville, his excitement slowly wavering, "I thought we were all supposed to discuss what would be happening during this search..."

"We will discuss all of that tomorrow," began Dumbledore, "you have had a long day and a very stressful few months so tonight we decided that you not only needed one final day of rest but to spend some time with your family."

"Thank you so much!"

Neville said his good-byes to everyone but when he reached his uncle he stopped.

"Thank you for the compass...Ginny told me you helped her pay for it."

"It was nothing. She paid for most of it...I just chipped in a few knuts and sickels."

"Why don't you come with us to the house? Who knows? Maybe my gran has changed since she was attacked...maybe she has a new appreciation of life."

Francis smiled sadly.

"I'm afraid I can not Neville. You must go on before it gets any later. I'll be keeping in touch. Be careful and stick together...I know you can do this."

Francis placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and looked him straight in the eye.

"You're ready."

Neville nodded and began to gather his bags.

_But Was he?_

He waited until Francis finished saying good-bye to Nelie and Maitland and they left.

They began to walk down the street and Neville wondered when they would be aparrating.

"We're traveling by portkey," Nelie whispered, almost as if she had read his mind.

They continued walking for what seemed to be another few blocks when they reached a dark alley.

Maitland went first followed by Neville and Nelie. They walked all the way up to the dead end wall and sitting in the corner was a strange contraption Neville had never seen before. It was shaped like a square and had a thin cord coming from it which attached to what looked to be two hearing devices.

Nelie giggled at the way Neville was staring at the mysterious thing.

"It's called a cassette player," she began, "you listen to music on it. See? These things go on your ears."

Neville had been absolutely fascinated with the thing and began to examine it carefully.

"You can listen to it when we get to the house," replied Nelie, "but right now we need to get going. The portkey has been preset to take us back in time a couple of hours so that you'll have more time to visit with your family."

They all three touched the cassette player and the next thing Neville knew they were moving, for a split second it had felt like he had been hooked under his navel and yanked at the speed of light, it didn't hurt but was a tad uncomfortable, however the transition was so quick that it wasn't even worth thinking about. Around a second later they were at their destination in Switzerland and Neville immediately felt his breath being taken away with the beauty of the landscape. The skies were the clearest and bluest he had ever seen and the grass and the trees greener and there were also tall, glorious snow covered mountains in the horizon.

"Well here we are home sweet home," replied Nelie with a wide grin.

They walked up to a very large white cottage with bright red trimming and the butterflies in Neville's stomach were beginning to flutter. He didn't know what to expect, he'd be happy to see his family obviously and witness with his own eyes that they were safe but still his gran could be rather unpredictable at times.

Neville allowed for Nelie and Maitland to walk ahead of him and open the front door.

As soon as he walked in he was greeted with a large, winding staircase leading upstairs and to his left was the kitchen and dining hall and to his right was an enormous sitting room where his gran, great-uncle Algie and great-aunt Enid were loudly bickering, which immediately made Neville smile. He was used to their senseless bickering but he'd rather have that then nothing at all.

"GRAN!" Neville cried, he couldn't contain himself, he ran over to them as if he were a little boy and his great-uncle was the first to stand up and embrace the boy with a warm and welcoming hug.

"Algie! Enid! I'm so glad you are all alright!"

"Good to see you boy," replied Algie, who briefly pulled away to ruffle Neville's hair and examine him.

Algie was a very tall man who stood at about six foot six on bare feet. He had the traditional round Longbottom face which was always red, open and friendly. His white hair had seemed even whiter than Neville had last remembered but otherwise he looked the same as always, clad in his usual dress shirt and brown slacks- which were held up by a pair of suspenders- he had always been the most cheerful, accepting and least judgmental of the three elder Longbottoms.

"I tell you boy you get better and better looking each time I see you...finally starting to take after our Frank it seems."

Neville blushed and went to hug his great-aunt.

Enid was a petite woman in stature (she came up just below Neville's chest) and pleasantly plump at the same time. Her white hair was pulled back into her usual french braid and the crows feet around her blue eyes became even more visible as she smiled up at Neville.

"Oh Neville! How are you dear?"

"Amazing now that I'm here with you all!"

She took a step back to look him up and down.

"Have they been feeding you at that school?"

Before Neville even had time to utter a reply she continued.

"Well...now that you're with us we'll make sure you are plentifully fed."

Neville's mind immediately began to protest.

That was one of the downsides to being a Longbottom, they were notorious for their love of food and when they ate they ate _well_, which would explain why he'd been fat his entire life and right now in his mind- _food equaled fat_.

After quickly dismissing the thought, he finally stepped over to his gran, who had stood up to flatten out her elegant dress- surprisingly she had left her vulture topped hat and moth eaten fox-fur scarf elsewhere- her once black hair, which was pulled back into a neat bun, barely had any traces of its natural color left as it was now mainly gray with a few streaks of white. Neville remembered how she used to color it regularly but eventually gave up stating that _"While a Longbottom should take pride in their appearance at all times they should allow for their natural age to progress, it is not a shameful thing when we grow older." _

He pulled her into a tight hug while she very lightly patted his back.

"_Now now_ Neville, that's enough."

She let go of him so she could sit herself back down and immediately peered up at him over her long nose.

"How are your grades?"

"Er...fine," he replied with disappointment. This had been the first he had seen her in almost half a year and all she could think to ask about were his grades?

"And your training?"

"Fine..."

Neville turned around to see Nelie and Maitland standing awkwardly by the doorway, trying to appear as if they weren't eavesdropping.

He wondered how things had been between them all while he hadn't been here. After all, Nelie and Maitland were her grandchildren too and so far she hadn't even acknowledged them. Any falling out she had with Francis she should keep with him, it simply wasn't fair to punish them too- they had no say in what they would be born into.

"You look good," his gran observed with a cocked eyebrow, "of course with the exception of that _dreadful_ hair..."

"Thank you and I-I know...I'm way overdue for a trim."

"Surely you can't mean that Augusta?" protested Enid with disbelief. "The boy looks starved! Look at him, his clothes are practically falling off of him!"

"Well then we will just have to buy him some new clothes that fit properly," stated Augusta sharply with a nod.

"I-I've just been so stressed...over you guys and other things...I've been extremely busy," retorted Neville defensively.

"So c'mon boy sit down and tell us what you have been up to," began Algie, patting a spot next to him on the couch.

Neville looked back over to the doorway where Nelie and Maitland had been standing and saw that they had disappeared.

"Well nothing out of the ordinary...but I did join the quidditch team."

"Well alright boy! That's the spirit! What position?" questioned Algie with intrigue.

"Chaser."

While Algie was excited for Neville his gran just tsked and stared hard at him with squinted eyes.

"Quidditch darling? That's preposterous! You have got studies and more important things to be focusing on than some silly sport! When you return to school I want you to withdraw yourself _immediately_."

"But gran- I-I'm actually good! I can't just quit now!"

"You can and _you will_. This is your final year and you have very little time to make something of yourself. We haven't had a Longbottom graduate with anything less than an Outstanding in every course yet and I do not pertain to have you be the first. What would your parents think?"

Neville frowned.

He'd thought that maybe after the attack his gran would have a new appreciation and outlook on life and her "only" grandson but apparently he had thought wrong.

She hadn't changed.

"You got yourself a girlfriend yet boy?" asked Algie as he nudged Neville in the ribs playfully.

"Algie please stop encouraging the boy. He doesn't have time for a girlfriend," replied Augusta matter of factly, "isn't that right dear?"

Neville nodded and immediately felt the guilt settle in.

Algie cleared his throat suddenly and his eyes began to shift back and forth across the room nervously.

"You uh...you uh do happen to be interested in the_ lasses _right?"

Neville was mortified and his face immediately felt as if it were on fire. He had been so shocked and offended with the idea of his family considering that he didn't like girls that it took him a moment to reply as the three elder Longbottoms all watched him silently, awaiting an answer.

"Of course I like girls!" he answered heatedly, "why would you think otherwise and even if I _didn't_ why should it matter?"

"Well..." began Algie quietly, his permanently red face growing even redder, "you just..._never know_ sometimes...first we thought you were a squib but just turns out you were a late bloomer...and you always were kind of soft-spoken and overly sensitive...plus you were always tinkering away in that garden when other boys your age were out riding their brooms...and of course you've never had a proper girlfriend that we know of...so..."

"_So_...that automatically means that I'm into blokes?!"

Neville felt so angry and hurt and was about to storm out of the room until someone spoke.

"Actually Neville _does_ have a girlfriend and she's very kind, smart and beautiful."

They all turned to see Nelie standing at the bottom of the staircase peering in at all of them, apparently she had been secretly listening to their entire conversation.

Neville's gran suddenly turned to him.

"Is this true?" she asked with great displeasure.

"Why does it matter?" he asked sharply.

"Because you haven't the time for girls...you have a job to do and studies to keep up with and a family legacy to uphold! You can't possibly manage all of that and partake in any silly, nonsense romance."

Neville groaned and threw his hands up in exasperation.

"He's been on top of everything and _I_ can attest to that," replied Nelie firmly, stepping into the room as they all turned to look at her.

Anyone who challenged Augusta Longbottom was in for two things- a harsh glare that could melt a cauldron and a bitter, long winded argument.

"Excuse me dear were you speaking to _me_?" barked Augusta rudely.

"I'm looking at you aren't I?" snapped Nelie.

At this Augusta's face fell with annoyance and disbelief.

"Well now...it is apparent to me where you inherited _your _manners."

"What's that supposed to mean?" retorted Nelie.

"It means exactly what I said," replied Augusta coldly, "your despicable, ingrate father married that...that _awful_ woman! I knew she was of bad blood merely from the sight of her! You ought to be grateful that we even agreed to stay here in this..._dastardly _place!"

Nelie's face fell and she glared at Augusta with hate filled eyes.

"_WE_ ought to be grateful?! WE saved all of your sorry arses from being killed! YOU ought to be down on your hands and knees thanking us! Why should we be grateful that you are here?! What have you _ever_ offered us?! You are in OUR home running your mouth about how awful and evil we are when none of us are like my mother! Just because you hate her and my dad doesn't mean you need to hate us! What have we done to you?!"

Silence.

Neville had been holding his breath and he slowly let it escape as his eyes shifted from his gran to Nelie warily.

This was supposed to be a warm, heart filled family reunion- for him anyways- and it was already being ruined by none other than his gran. In his mind he had pictured the reunion going much more satisfactory, in his mind he ran to his gran, great-uncle Algie and great-aunt Enid and was suffocated with hugs and kisses. Then they would sit and chat and they would all tell him how proud they were of him and how happy they were to see him- but that was only a fantasy and this was the reality. Just the fact that his home life was almost as sad and empty as his regular, everyday life made him feel so low and worthless.

"I will _not_ be spoken to in such a manner," replied Augusta finally.

"And what's going to stop me from doing it again? This isn't YOUR home _Augusta _which means you will have to abide by our rules and our ways of living and you can either put up or get out!"

Augusta glanced at her brother-in-law and his wife for assistance but both of them looked away, wanting nothing to do with the argument.

"If you have any issues with us then you are free to leave whenever you please," began Nelie slowly, her tone of voice returning to normal. "However we are offering you a safe place to reside until all of this mess is sorted out and I think that for the time being we should put our differences aside and just...deal with each other for as long as we must now is that going to be a problem?"

Neville waited for his gran to protest but when she didn't he glanced at her and was surprised to see that she had remained tight lipped.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour," mumbled Nelie, before going into the kitchen.

As soon as she had left Neville's gran wasted no time in voicing her discontent.

"_Well_..." she began sharply, "if I'd had known _this_ was the treatment we'd be receiving..."

"Gran," interrupted Neville, "_please_...you don't know them- they're very nice but you can't see this because of your grudge against Francis."

Silence.

The moment Neville had mentioned Francis' name he knew it had been a mistake as a sudden chillness swept over the room and the emotion on Augusta's face at the moment had been indescribable. Neville couldn't tell if it had been anger, resentment or confusion but it had startled him. Ever since he was little he had always known the kind of mood his gran was in simply by reading her face and now that he couldn't it bothered him greatly.

"He's _your son_..." Neville continued, hoping that he could get through to her, "don't you think this estrangement has gone on long enough? He made some serious mistakes and he's admitted it...but everyone makes mistakes and he's ready to make amends."

"My _son_..." began Augusta coldly, "was the best wizard of his kind who made a great sacrifice for us all and his name is Frank."

"Neville," began Algie in a low voice, "I don't think this is the best time..."

"Then _when is_?!" shouted Neville. "The fact of the matter is that they are still your family whether you like it or not! THEY are _Longbottoms_! You are in their blood! What makes it okay to just throw that all away like yesterday's garbage as if it means nothing?! You are the one always telling me the importance of our family legacy...so what exactly are you trying to demonstrate by acting as if they didn't exist?!"

Out of the corner of his eye Neville had seen Nelie and Maitland sitting silently on the staircase listening.

"Gran...it takes a _bold_ _heart_ to forget but it takes an even _mightier_ one to forgive..."

Silence.

Neville had done it. He knew what he was in for and he didn't care, as happy as he had been to see his gran alive and well in person she had tipped him to his boiling point and felt that she needed to be put in her place, which is something he would have never dared think to do until now.

"How _dare_ you speak to me in such a tone..."

Neville was going to continue to stand his ground.

"I'm sorry," he began softly, "but I feel strongly about this and if you continue to act like this towards our family then I'll never forgive you..._ever_."

"These..._people _are no family of mine," she replied stubbornly.

"YES they _are_!" shouted Neville, "And you have NO room to talk about their mother and her ways! You are no better than her by disowning your own grand kids, by not ever wanting to know them...she might have abandoned her family and been unable to love them but at least she claimed them as her own for the short time that she was with them!"

Suddenly Neville's brain began shouting at him to stop but it had been too late.

He quickly looked over at his cousins who had been staring at him in bewilderment. He wanted to kick himself after realizing that what Francis had revealed to him about their mother had most likely been in confidence but there was nothing he could do about it now.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry," he replied, jumping up to comfort his cousins, "I-I didn't mean to say that...I...it's just...your dad told me-"

"It's true," began Maitland softly, "we can't be angry with you for telling the truth. She never loved us..."

"_How_ _dare you_...I am NOTHING like that woman!" shouted Augusta, standing up, "that woman is a disgrace to our kind...she ought to be stripped of all her magic and exiled to a place where low-life muggles are held!"

"Say what you want about our mother," began Nelie sadly, "but we are only hers by blood...she chose a life that didn't include us and we chose to carry on with ours in a positive way and we couldn't have done it without our father. He showed us that good things _can_ come from bad experiences if you allow it...we could have ended up being screwed up and evil like our mother but we chose something better for ourselves. We're _better_ than her and the three of us are closer now than ever as a result, closer than most families I would imagine."

No one spoke for what seemed like hours, whether it was because they were afraid to speak or because they were hoping someone else would he didn't know but Neville wished he were anywhere else right now, particularly at the burrow meeting Ginny's family. He wondered if they ever dealt with issues similar to his family's. If things had been this bad simply with him here he couldn't even (and didn't want to) imagine what Nelie and Maitland had been forced to put up with without him.

"Please excuse me," replied Augusta suddenly as she stood up and made her way to the stairs, "I think I am going to retire early tonight."

"But dinner is almost ready," said Nelie.

"No thank you," she answered sternly, "Neville and I have a busy day tomorrow."

"We do?"

"Yes so as soon as you finish dinner I want you to go wash up and get to bed. I will come and awake you at five. Good night."

Moments later Algie cleared his throat and glanced at his great-niece and nephew.

"So...what are we having for dinner?"

------

After the awkwardness that followed when his gran went to bed, everyone else went off to do their own thing. Neville tried taking a nap but couldn't sleep so he began to walk around and explore the house, then he had Nelie show him how to listen to the casette player, then he looked through their photo albums- which all pictures of Francis' wife Jessica had been scribbled out- until he finally decided to step out back into the courtyard to get some fresh air, it had a wonderful view of a nearby lake. It was so peaceful and beautiful but at the same time lonely because he had no one to share it with and suddenly he began to miss Ginny more than ever, true he had only been away from her for a few hours but it felt like longer. He wondered if his early departure would affect their relationship and cause Ginny to realize that she in fact did not love him.

He gazed up at the sky and tried to picture himself with her in the hopeful near future- her smiling face and outstretched arms ready to embrace him after a long day of work and then the both of them would unwind in their own courtyard, laying out underneath of the night sky, holding each other. Once again, this was merely a fantasy and from what Neville had learned from a fairly young age fantasy and reality were two _very_ different things, and his reality- more times than not- was nothing more than a disappointment, severely lacking in anything with true meaning. He was beginning to feel more alone and depressed than ever.

He estimated that he had been outside for an hour when Nelie stuck her head out.

"Sorry dinner was running a bit late but it's ready."

Dinner had been the most awkward Neville had ever experienced. No one spoke a single word and slowly ate without looking up from their plates. They had eaten a traditional Swiss meal which consisted of Pastetli, which was a meat and mushroom filled pie, with a side of rice and peas and for dessert, basel cookies.

Neville at first resisted the temptation of the food and no one had even noticed that he hadn't touched a thing but he hadn't eaten in what seemed to be ages and he was beginning to feel weak and his stomach had begun growling loudly, so he caved and ate. He had finished first, for which he was thankful, he then got up and was about to put his dishes away when Nelie spoke.

"Oh no Neville...you don't have to do that."

"I don't mind."

"No," she answered firmly but with a smile, "you are a guest in our home. Let one of us do it."

Neville answered her request by gently placing his dishes back down on the table.

"So where will I be sleeping?" he asked.

"With Maitland...we've got an extra bed set up in his room...hope you don't mind. It's just that the other rooms have been taken respectively."

"Oh no I don't mind at all," replied Neville honestly, in fact he was kind of glad he would be sharing a room with him, maybe this would be a chance for him to get to know Maitland better.

She gave a wide, dimpled smile.

"That's so good to hear. C'mon I'll show you where it is."

Neville followed Nelie up the long set of stairs where they entered a hallway and walked all the way to the end.

"So here it is," she began, opening up the door. "It's quite spacious so you shouldn't feel too cramped. The bathroom is the second door to your right and if you need anything of course Maitland is here with you and I'm just next door."

"Thank you..." replied Neville softly, "and I'm sorry about my gran...I imagine she's been quite intolerable?"

"It's alright," she began, "if she chooses not to acknowledge us as family then we can respect that but I do want to thank you for standing up for us, especially to your gran...I know how much she means to you and that was very brave, _unnecessary_ but brave. You are really something else..."

Neville blushed.

"She'll be out of your hair in no time," he promised. "I just...I wish things could be different."

"Me too," she agreed.

Nelie stood for a moment longer before giving him a hug.

"Good night."

"Night."

Neville waited until he heard her footsteps descending down the stairs and immediately rushed into the bathroom and placed a silencing charm around the room. He knelt down in front of the toilet and instantly his food came up without a hassle. Within a couple of minutes the entire contents of his dinner had been successfully disposed of and he felt much better, physically and emotionally. He flushed it all down and got up to wash his face and brush his teeth.

When he got back into his room he was relieved that Maitland had not yet been up and quickly changed into his pajamas and got into bed, instantly falling into a dreamless sleep.

------

A woman of her word Augusta was up and dressed and by Neville's beside at five o'clock on the dot.

Having absolutely no regard for Maitland whatsoever-who had been sleeping on the other side of the room- she turned on the lights and began to shake her grandson.

Neville groaned and threw an arm over his face.

"C'mon gran, just another hour..."

"Absolutely not. Get up. You need to be showered, dressed and downstairs in a half hour."

"Gran I'm _exhausted_..."

"That just can't be helped. First thing we're going to do is get _that hair_ of yours cut."

Neville pulled the blanket over his head, hoping that his gran would leave but she did nothing of the sort and instead yanked the blanket off of him and threw it to the floor.

"_Neville Archibald Regnauld Longbottom_ get up this instant!"

He cringed as his full name escaped her lips, she only called him by his full name when she was angered, his middle names had been the names of both his great-grandfathers respectively. He finally gave in and sat up in bed, she handed him his glasses and stared at him, hands on her hips tapping a foot on the floor.

"You are already causing us to be off schedule. I'll be downstairs waiting. Oh and darling, don't forget to make your bed."

His gran left and he looked over at his cousin, who surprisingly was still snoring lightly and appeared to not have been awoken.

Neville got out of bed, grabbed a change of clothes and entered the shower. Hoping to look suitable enough for his gran he had picked out a silk white button up and a pair of dark brown trousers. He had also parted his hair at the side and combed his fringe to the opposite side. He looked down at his pocket watch and saw it was five-thirty eight. He could just see his gran waiting downstairs, pacing back and forth ready to approach the staircase to come up and check on him.

When he arrived downstairs sure enough there she was standing right at the bottom, one foot on the first step.

"Oh no darling, you can not wear that. Go up and change."

"What's wrong with this?" asked Neville defensively. "You said yourself I was keeping us off schedule, why don't we just go and not waste anymore time."

"Go up and change into the outfit I laid out for you, it's on the dresser."

Neville stared at his gran with annoyance and disbelief.

"Hurry!" she replied, waving him up the stairs.

"What all are we going to be doing? Meeting the high chancellor or something?"

His gran frowned and simply crossed her arms over her chest.

"_Alright_," he sighed defeatedly as he slowly trudged back upstairs to change. He grabbed the clothes that were neatly laid out across the dresser and went into the bathroom to change. She had picked out a blue silk dress shirt with a white collar, a beige colored tie along with a matching beige jacket. The trousers were a slightly darker beige and the shoes a dark, mahogany brown. He snarled at his reflection with disgust. He hated that his gran was still picking out his outfits as though he were still eight years old. He hated that she wanted him to appear like a rich, pretentious, stuck up snob rather than as himself.

It was no secret that the Longbottom's were a wealthy family but Neville hated the fact that it was constantly on display, thanks to his grandmother's lack of courtesy their wealth was evident in what she purchased for herself and others, in what she wore, in who she associated with, in how she addressed others and even to how she chose to present her "only" grandson. He hated the fact that she gloated to anyone who could tolerate her long enough to listen about her perfect life and her exceptionally powerful, pure-blooded family when it was all a bunch of bullshit to him.

To him it didn't matter how much money they had because money couldn't buy him happiness, it couldn't make his parents return to their normal states before their attack, it couldn't bring his estranged family back together so what was the point? In his eyes money was the root to all evil, he hated the fact that he had been born into immediate and effortless wealth and if he could he would set fire to a large pile of their money just to watch it burn. He hated how others assumed that he thought he was better than everyone else just because his family had money, when in fact what he felt was the exact opposite.

He sighed and returned to his gran who nodded with approval and then proceeded to fix his collar and straighten his tie.

Neville for the life of him couldn't figure out why he continued to allow her to boss him around at his age, maybe it was because he was too drained most of the time to argue with her or maybe it was because he felt he owed it to her, considering he had been a disappointment to her in so many ways throughout his life that maybe he felt as if this was the one pleasure he could give her to keep her satisfied and to keep her from completely disregarding her relation to him.

"You look very handsome," she noted with a final look as she circled him.

"_Thank you_," he mumbled.

"Well we are already almost an hour late so we may as well sit down and have a proper breakfast."

"Uh no...really gran it's okay. Like you said we need to get going and I don't want to waste anymore time."

"Nonsense dear," began his gran, "biscuits and tea will not throw us off schedule anymore than we already are."

Neville followed his gran into the kitchen and sat as she hurriedly prepared a plate of biscuits and poured their tea.

They sat in silence sipping their tea, neither having touched the biscuits.

"Well I haven't _poisoned _them," his gran replied sharply. "Go on eat one."

Neville stared at the biscuits warily and robotically reached out to grab one, thankfully it had been plain and not slathered in butter or jam.

Apparently he had been staring at the biscuit longer than he had thought because his gran cleared her throat and he looked up at her.

"Go on take a bite," she prodded, as she watched him over her tea cup.

He took a bite and immediately wanted to spit it out, it wasn't that it didn't taste good but rather that it didn't have a taste at all and as he felt the lump of bread travel down his throat he practically gagged just thinking about where it was about to end up and eventually turn to fat.

He forced himself to eat the rest of the biscuit and waited for his gran to make some sort of comment but when she didn't he found himself reaching for another, and another, and another until eventually there were only three biscuits left on the plate. He stared at his empty, crumb filled plate with shame and humiliation and refused to meet his gran's eyes. He knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Well I said eat _one_," she began, "I can see from your appearance that you have been demonstrating elaborate restraint but you can not allow for yourself to be weak, do not allow for your eyes to become bigger than your hunger. We don't want you regaining all of that unnecessary weight do we? Especially after all of this hard work you have put in, whenever you feel another insatiable spell coming on distract yourself, you are a _Longbottom_ so show me that you can control yourself."

Neville blushed, even though it was just his gran present he still felt humiliated that he'd allowed himself to lose control like that.

"Excuse me gran," he replied as he wiped his mouth. "Need to use the loo then we can go."

He momentarily considered going into the loo down there but decided that if he did he would be practically inviting his gran to stick her nose in.

He quietly slipped inside the upstairs washroom, placed the silencing charm and leaned over the toilet bowl, a few moments later the door swung open and Maitland stood observing the scene before him, with half open eyes. He didn't move for a few moments and looked as if he were trying to make sense of everything.

"You okay?" he muttered through a yawn.

"Yeah...just felt a bit queasy."

"Whoa what's with the fancy outfit?"

Neville blushed and stood up.

"I...don't know."

Neville washed his hands and quietly slipped past his cousin and returned downstairs where his gran had been smoothing down her flyaway hairs.

"Alright first we are going to get _that hair_ of yours under control, then we are going to go look for you some new clothes and then I have a few people I'd like for you to meet."

"A few people?" questioned Neville nervously, "Gran...what _kind _of people?"

"People who are immensely contributing toward your future."

"My future? Gran...I-"

"It is never too early to start planning for your future darling. That's what I always told your father and he knew- _he knew _that one step toward achievement was more substantial than a million steps toward nothing."

"Gran...I think...I don't have time for this, alright? I'm going to begin searching for Blydlliss' key today. I-I don't have time to be pondering my future when right now- this journey, finding this key_ is _my future and not just mine but everyone's. If I don't do this then_ no one _will have a future."

"Come along dear. We're already over an hour late."

Neville sighed and silently followed his gran out the door without protest.

------

By the time Neville and his gran had returned to the cottage it was nearly noon and he was ready to collapse. The only positive that had come from their outing had been his hair cut, which had been a huge improvement that made him look more sophisticated and put together. They had managed to spend over three hours shopping for new outfits for him to wear and his gran had picked everything out except for a long, black coat with a red, black and white checkered scarf he had grown fond of after seeing it displayed in one of the store windows; of course, his gran waved him off saying it was an unnecessary accessory and that he had plenty of coats but he didn't care, something about it drew him to it and he snuck away from her to purchase it himself. Then they'd met with four of his gran's closest and most prominent acquaintances to discuss what sort of plans he would be considering after graduation and they had all been testing his durability and assessing whether or not he'd have what it took to work for them, but the thing was none of these people were in the line of work that Neville had any interest for but he continued to grin and bear it for his gran, who seemed to have been pleased with the impression he was giving off.

Just as Neville sat down on the couch Nelie and Maitland came running downstairs.

"There you are! Where have you been?" asked Nelie who had clearly been flustered.

"Out with gran...sorry wasn't expecting it to take that long."

"Well hate to ruin your moment of rest but we've got to go meet with the order right now. They're all already waiting on us," replied Maitland.

"But...my bags aren't-"

"Already packed and ready to go," he continued hurriedly.

"Do I even have time to change out of this ridiculous outfit?" asked Neville pleadingly.

"Sorry mate...but we're already wasting valuable time just standing around," said Maitland.

Neville sighed.

"Alright just let me say goodbye to everyone."

His gran, great-uncle and great-aunt were all standing back, watching silently.

Neville approached them, he wanted to make a clean, easy break and not get too emotional. He had already been through so much worrying about them and now that they would be on the receiving end he wanted to make them as proud as possible and remain confident that he would come back from this alive.

"I'll miss you all," he said simply.

His great-aunt broke down into tears and pulled him into quite a suffocating hug for the petite woman that she was.

"Be careful and owl us whenever you can."

His great-uncle, rather than hug him stuck out a large hand which Neville took and shook firmly. He looked his great-nephew dead in the eye.

"Don't allow for yourself to become vulnerable at any point or you will be offering yourself to the enemy, you've got to keep 'em close boy, think like 'em, act like 'em, resort to whatever tactic you can come up with to keep 'em from finding that key. It's time to get those hands dirty boy."

Neville nodded and waited for his gran to add something but when he finally glanced at her he noticed that she hadn't even been looking at him, but rather was focusing on the wall opposite her. He knew he was wasting time but he couldn't leave without telling her goodbye.

"I love you gran. I'll keep in touch."

He stood there awkwardly, thinking maybe she would reach out and hug him at the very last moment but she stood, unmoving with the same indescribable expression on her face she had worn when Neville first said Francis' name. He wondered what she was thinking. Finally he went to hug her and eventually he felt her arms wrap around him gently, when he pulled away he wasn't surprised to find that she had resorted back to her usual expression.

"Be careful dear. Owl me when you reach your destination."

Neville nodded and with one last glance at his family he turned around and left.

------

When they arrived at grimmauld place Dumbledore, Sirius, Remus, Mad-Eye, Charlie, Fred, George and Snape were all sitting awaiting their arrival and the moment they had walked into the room everyone stopped their conversations and Dumbledore stood up to address the three young Longbottoms.

"Whoa nice threads..." mumbled Fred as Neville took a seat next to him.

Dumbledore pulled out a long, thick parchment that had been tied up with a thin piece of red ribbon. He undid the ribbon and allowed for the scroll to roll out down almost the entire length of the table. Neville stared in disbelief at how large this map was. If this were representation of all the ground he'd need to cover during his search he'd be searching for the next ten years!

"You will begin your journey by apparating to Evrinwault Corner where Nymphadora will be awaiting at a nearby checkpoint. From there you will travel by foot to Frighning Hook where Charlie will be awaiting at another nearby checkpoint. You will begin your search there. Every place that we have knowledge of Frank and Alice traveling to is marked on this map and you will be retracing their steps. We will all communicate by patronus but we will not specify locations or names."

Neville felt his stomach drop, he hadn't yet been able to conjure up a proper patronus which briefly sent a chill down his back, maybe this was a sign that he truly wasn't ready, but it wasn't as if he could back out now.

"Are there any questions?" asked Dumbledore.

Immediately Nelie's hand shot up and Neville was fruitifully reminded of Hermione.

"Albus is there some sort of plan if any of us should somehow become separated?"

"Ah very good question indeed Cornelia and in fact there is. If any of you should become separated _do not_ apparate, travel by foot to the nearest clearing, make sure that it is not inhabited by anyone and send a patronus to the others, they will then notify the order and both parties will set out to make sure everyone is safe."

"_Do not_," warned Sirius, "under _any _circumstances split up or you will be making yourselves easier targets."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement and Sirius continued.

"Also do not mention the key or make any reference to it, there may be Death Eaters roaming the areas and if you are confronted by _anyone_ be prepared to attack, you can't take any chances on being discovered and if anyone inquires to know your identities use the aliases we've come up with. You each have an alias based on actual living persons so it is dire that you _know_ their information in case you are confronted or captured. Nelie you are Araegayle Bell, you were born on January 11th, 1976 in Shropshire. Maitland you are Gareth Bell, born on December 2nd, 1977 also in Shropshire. Neville you are Shelby Bell, you were born on September 26th, 1980 in Liverpool. You are all three siblings born to Leland and Phoebe Bell and if anyone asks you what your middle name is remember that it is a trick question to trap you, none of these people have middle names. We have a vial for each of you containing multiple hairs from the persons you will be portraying, however I must forewarn to use it sparingly if at all. Severus already has the polyjuice potion mixed and all that is needed is a single hair, use this only if you feel you are at immediate risk of being discovered and you _must_ remember the information we've given you pertaining to your aliases!"

Neville gulped as Remus got up and handed each of them a small vial attached to a chain so they could wear it around their necks.

"Very good, now I believe we have been over everything?" questioned Dumbledore.

"Albus...might I suggest something?" drawled Snape.

"Of course Severus."

"Might we send a decoy out to portray Mr. Longbottom on occasion to throw off the stragglers? Not immediately of course but as we delve deeper into the darker locations where it will be crucial to get in and out in limited time. It could greatly improve our chances of finding the key in a lesser amount of time."

"That is an idea Severus, we'll communicate through patronus at each checkpoint and discuss further."

Snape nodded and narrowed his eyes on the aging wizard.

"We will not keep you from your journey any longer. Good luck to all of you," replied Dumbledore.

The three Longbottoms and Snape all stood up and went on their way.

------

**Author's Note:** Originally the chapter wasn't that long but I was bored today and decided to add on to it so I'm pretty happy with where I ended it! Fub tb: originally I planned to end it when Neville falls asleep. Chapter 26 to follow! Please read and review! Thanks so much 'all! :)


	27. Fallacies

**Chapter 26: **Fallacies

The three Longbottoms along with Snape arrived at Evrinwault Corner with a loud pop and were immediately greeted by a surprisingly chipper- considering the circumstances after all- voice calling out to them.

"Oy! Welcome to Evrinwault Corner. You lot ready for the journey ahead?"

Suddenly a figure with bright canary colored hair began advancing towards them swiftly, at which it couldn't be more obvious to who it was.

"Hello Tonks," greeted Neville.

"So I've scowered the area within a five hundred mile radius and so far all is clear," she reported cheerfully, "although as you get farther into the forest the risks become higher...unfortunately now the rest of your journey will be on foot...you got your map out and ready?"

"How far away exactly is this next place?" asked Maitland.

"Not too terribly far..." answered Tonks.

"Any guesses?"

"I'd say non-stop about two and a half, possibly three hours but it'll go by fast, you have each other to keep company."

"Two and a half to THREE hours?" shouted Maitland, which resulted in loud shush gestures from the others.

"It won't seem like it though- I promise," assured Tonks, "Y'alright there Neville?"

Neville had found himself drifting away, he had been happy to have finally begun the journey but not at all pleased with the amount of time it would require. His thoughts found their way to Ginny, picturing her beautiful face and wondering what she could be doing and if she was thinking of him. He'd have to remember to write her when they set up camp for the night. He then began to wonder if he'd even survive to ever see her again but found it too painful to consider.

"Huh?" he replied, snapping out of his thoughts.

"You okay?" she asked again.

"Oh yeah, yeah...just thinking..."

"Right then, you'll all be traveling to Frighning Hook from here where Charlie will meet you all. Any questions?"

"Yeah, why can't we just apparate?" asked Maitland.

"Too dangerous," answered Tonks softly, "you see...Frighning Hook isn't a very...well, let's just say it isn't a very pleasant place to be discovered apparating into, a lot of terrible things have happened there and a lot of terrible things still go on there..."

"Like what?" asked Nelie in awe.

At this Snape finally decided to join in on the discussion.

He cleared his throat and focused his black eyes on Tonks.

"Nymphodora," he began dryly, "I do believe it best that we be on our way. Do you have anything of importance to share from the order?"

"Not of lately."

"Then I bid you adieu. Do not fall too far behind," he called over his shoulder as he began walking.

"What's his problem?" muttered Tonks.

"I think he's just wanting to arrive before dark..." answered Nelie, "and if this place is as unsafe as you say I'd think it's best we follow his lead."

"I s'pose..." replied Tonks with disappointment, apparently wanting to chat a bit longer. "Well off you go then. Good luck to you."

And with a soft pop she was gone.

Most of their traveling had been done in silence- even Nelie who most of the time had trouble keeping quiet was silent. Neville took out his pocket watch, they had now been walking for almost three and a half hours. Neville mentally scolded Tonks for openly lying to them but at the same time he couldn't blame her.

"We've been walking for ages," complained Maitland, "Neville can I see the map?"

Neville reached into his bag over his shoulder, pulled out the map and handed it over to him.

"According to the map we've still got another eight or so miles to go! Hmmph two and half to three hours my ass!"

"Shut up," barked Nelie, "look we're all hot, crabby and exhausted but we need to just keep moving."

Neville had been starting to fall back from the others miles ago. He was growing weaker with each step and having trouble keeping up a considerable pace, luckily though none of the others looked back because the last thing he wanted was to be holding them up.

The farther into the forrest they got the darker it seemed to get and the sounds lesser, which was unsettling to Neville, because if you can't hear or see any signs of life then chances were that there were none. He took a deep breath and subconsciously grabbed his wand.

The path they were walking on became more narrow with each step and the trees hovering above them seemed to lean in towards them, as if caging them and warning of the ominous things ahead. Neville couldn't think of a more sinister looking forest- this place made the forbidden forrest look like something out of a fairy tale.

"Severus, how much time do you reckon we have until sun set?" asked Nelie.

"Possibly three, four more hours."

"That isn't long at all..." she murmured, trying to keep any means of worry to herself.

"I'm hungry...can we stop for five minutes?" asked Maitland.

"Stupid boy..." snarled Snape, "five minutes is a crucial amount of time in these woods, we'd surely be captured."

"Here," offered Nelie reaching into her bag, "have some chocolate."

"Don't want chocolate...I want _food_."

Nelie groaned.

"Well then sorry little brother I can't help you."

Nelie suddenly turned to offer Neville some when she discovered how far back he was.

"Neville!" she shouted as she ran towards him. Neville was crouched down on the ground, breathing heavily, trying not to bring attention to himself. "Are you alright? What's wrong?"

"Just tired..." he replied, "you go on...please, just- I'll be fine...I'll catch up."

"I'm not leaving you behind," she began, "remember what Sirius said? He said absolutely do not separate..."

"As long as you're in my line of vision I'll be fine..."

"_No_," replied Nelie sternly, "we will wait for you, we're in this together."

At this exact moment Neville's stomach released an unpleasant rumble.

"When's the last time you've eaten?" questioned Nelie.

"Er..." Neville had to think about this for a moment. "this morning?"

"Neville!" scolded Nelie, "you've got to make sure you're eating enough...so you have the strength to go through with all this."

"I know," he replied softly, "I just...have quite the nervous stomach you know?"

Nelie looked up and whistled at the others, who turned and began to walk back towards them.

"Maybe Snape will change his mind and let us rest a bit, yeah?"

Was Nelie ever wrong, Snape approached them quickly, his face clearly twisted with discontent.

"_What_ Longbottom...is the meaning of _this_?"

"S-sorry...I just was getting a bit...tired," mumbled Neville, his head down.

"_Tired_ Longbottom? We haven't time for tired...we must keep going. We are wasting time with your laziness and other ensuing mishaps-"

"I know sir...I'm ready to go."

"Actually Severus...maybe we should all have a rest. We're all near the point of collapse...maybe it would do us good?"

"What a shame it is to be stuck with three Longbottoms who know not what they are about to face...there is no time to waste don't you understand that silly girl?"

Nelie nodded and took a step back.

Snape knelt down so that he was face to face with Neville.

"If I'd had it my way...we would have left you behind miles ago-" began Snape venomously, his black eyes locked on Neville's brown, "we have no room in this journey for the _weak_, Longbottom. As of now you've proven yourself as nothing more than _dead weight_, a mere and pathetic form of a supposed hero in hiding. _You are weak_, Longbottom- always were and always will be. You will claim no redemption for our world, in fact, with you at our mercy we will only see the end."

At this Neville somehow found a spark of energy, he jumped up, grabbed his wand and shoved it in Snape's face.

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK! YOU- YOU-"

"Do not say anything you will regret..." warned Snape.

Nelie jumped in front of Snape, her arms outstretched on either side.

"Neville are you crazy? Put your wand away!"

"YOU COWARD!" shouted Neville, "GET UP AND FACE ME LIKE A MAN!"

Suddenly Snape jumped up as well, his eyes laden with fury.

"YOU DARE CALL ME A COWARD?"

"YOU WANT TO KNOW SOMETHING YOU FUCKING DESPICABLE ASSHOLE? I'VE _NEVER_ TRUSTED YOU- SINCE THE DAY I MET YOU! AND IF I HAD IT MY WAY...I'D TELL EVERYONE THAT YOU'RE AN EVIL, CONNIVING, TWO-FACED DEATH EATER WORKING FOR VOLDEMORT! YOU AREN'T _WITH US! _THE ONLY REASON YOU'RE HERE IS SO YOU CAN GET YOUR GRIMY, FILTHY HANDS ON THE KEY FOR YOURSELF! YOU'RE WORKING STRAIGHT FOR VOLDEMORT! BUT YOU'VE SWORN YOUR LOYALTY TO DUMBLEDORE AS WELL- THAT MAKES YOU A COWARD! TAKE YOURSELF FOR WHAT YOU ARE AND QUIT BULLSHITING EVERYONE!"

Suddenly the silence was overtaken by a loud crack as Snape's fist connected with Neville's jaw, the force so powerful that it knocked Neville backwards. Nelie and Maitland watched the scene unfold with wide eyes and open mouths, each unable to utter a word. Neville stared up at Snape in shock as he calmly brought his assaulting hand up to examine. Neville brought his hand up to his jaw and felt a throbbing jolt of pain run through.

"I _warned_ you Longbottom," replied Snape calmly. And with a swift twist of his long cape, he turned the other way and began walking.

Maitland reached down and pulled Neville back up onto his feet.

Without a word, the three Longbottoms took off after Snape.

About an hour and a half later the map told them they had reached their destination and within twenty seconds they heard that familiar popping sound as Charlie Weasley soon appeared before them. Nelie immediately blushed and looked away.

"Hello all," he greeted them, "welcome to Frighning Hook...glad you all made it here safely."

Charlie studied each of them carefully, as if examining their physical standing thus far, and when his eyes reached Neville he noticed his swollen jaw and opened his mouth to speak but before he could Snape spoke.

"Longbottom has been causing us quite a bit of trouble..."

"How so?" asked Charlie.

"He's been unwilling to keep with the group, falling behind and giving me lip..."

Charlie turned back to Neville.

"Is this true Neville?"

Neville had already been punched in the jaw by Snape and didn't want any further injuries to add to the list so he simply nodded to avoid any interrogation.

"Well...I realize you are all tired and hungry but the good news is that you're free to begin your search. Tonks and I have wandered through the area and so far nothing out of the ordinary has come to our attention...no sign of Death Eaters or anyone else but that's liable to change at any given moment so remember to think and act fast."

"How's Ginny?" Neville suddenly blurted out.

Charlie smiled and winked at Neville.

"I thought you might be asking me that," he replied, "she's fine and in fact wanted me to deliver this to you personally."

Charlie handed Neville an envelope and his heart leapt with joy.

"Will you be joining us in this search?" asked Nelie, failing to disguise the hope in her voice.

"'Fraid not," replied Charlie, "I've got to get back...official order business."

Nelie's face fell with disappointment and her brother rolled his eyes.

"Well I won't keep you lot any longer...keep them safe Severus."

Snape nodded and with a final wave and a pop Charlie was gone.

"We will set up camp here..." drawled Severus.

"_What_?" asked Nelie and Maitland.

"I will not repeat myself," muttered Snape.

"But...but it's too dangerous here!" Nelie yelped. "We'll surely be captured if we stay here!"

"I have spoken...and the decision is made. We will set up camp here and that is final."

"But that's suicide!" argued Maitland.

"NOT ANOTHER WORD!"

The two Longbottoms fell silent and looked to Neville for assistance but he was occupied reading his letter from Ginny.

Neville finished reading the letter and felt his troubled thoughts ease a bit. The letter read as follows:

_Neville,_

_I know it hasn't been long since you left but I have been thinking of you non-stop since. I'm so glad for all of the time we had together before you left- in a way, it makes me feel closer to you than ever. I just want you to know that I'm doing everything I can here to assist you...Hermione and I have been in the library looking for any information on the key you are looking for, so far no luck but I will keep you updated. You are the best thing that has happened to me...I am truly grateful for all that you have done for me and only wish to return some of that to you. You can trust me with anything and I want you to write, I know it won't be often but just whenever you have a free moment. I am eager to hear from you and learn on how you are doing. Please, Neville be careful. I've told my parents that you plan to visit the Burrow whenever this insanity becomes less so and they are looking forward to meeting you._

_I love you, Neville. So much._

_Ginny._

_P.S. Hope your compass is treating you well._

Neville had completely forgotten about the compass she had bought for him and would have to search for it before he goes to bed.

"I'm starving!" moaned Maitland, "can we_ please _eat something now?"

"You three start searching the area," began Snape, "stay within ear range and do no wander far. Meet back here in an hour and we will all eat and retire for the night."

Neville set his bag down and pulled out his father's journal. The three Longbottoms each went a different direction to begin their search.

Neville began by following a dirt path, he stopped and opened his father's journal hoping that he'd written something about being in Frighning Hook and sure enough he had. Neville read the following entry:

**June 24th, 1978**

**Alice and I have just reached Frighning Hook, it really is quite a dreadful place but we don't plan on staying here long. Earlier we had a rather heated discussion with mum about our apparent disreguard for safety, which is quite silly because we are always careful. As far as being followed we are making sure our appearances at each of these places be brief and calculated as not to leave any traces that we'd been here. As we move farther into this the dangers of being found out rise and at this Alice is a nervous wreck. Yesterday we were within a foot of the Death Eaters and we barely got out of that undiscovered. Apparently the thing everyone seems to be after is this key Alice and I hold in our possession and our purpose is to protect it and that we shall. So long as we are alive no one will get their hands on this key.**

Neville flipped through the next few pages but nothing else mentioned Frighning Hook. Neville sighed and placed the journal into his robe pocket. This was exactly why Snape and Malfoy had noble interest in his father's journal, because of the mentioning of the key. Neville swore to himself that after Malfoy had gotten his hands on it and then Snape that he'd never let it out of his sight again. Not only did it hold sentimental value but could also possibly hold clues leading him to the key.

Neville searched every inch of ground he walked on, he looked inside of overgrown brush, inside of holes and even dug but it lead to nothing. The hour passed by fairly quickly considering how slow the entire walk to get there had been. He checked his pocket watch and decided to head back.

"Any luck?" he asked Maitland, who had been waiting.

"Nope. You?"

"No," replied Neville with disappointment.

"You haven't seen Nelie have you?" asked Maitland, a hint of worry in his voice.

"No..."

"Well if she isn't back here in ten minutes we're going to have to go look for her..."

"Cornelia is fine," replied Snape all too knowingly, as he looked up from the fire. He had been busy preparing their dinner while they searched.

"How do you know?" asked Maitland.

And before Snape could answer Nelie appeared behind them.

"No luck," she replied quickly. "How about you two?"

Neville and Maitland both shook their heads.

"Damn," she replied angrily. "I don't understand why it isn't here!"

"Calm down," began Maitland, "we've still got plenty of ground to cover...it could be anywhere."

"But we _must_ find it! Tonight! We'll stay up and search!"

"Right now...we're going to sit down and eat," answered Maitland.

Neville watched his cousin curiously, her cheeks were red and she was breathing heavily as though she had been running.

"We must eat quickly," replied Severus, "we mustn't have a fire going or someone may see."

"What did you make?" asked Maitland.

"Just shut up and eat!" barked Nelie.

They all sat down and began eating except for Neville who sat and began writing to Ginny.

"You going to eat mate?" asked Maitland.

"Not hungry...thanks though."

Neville was surprised that he wasn't met with Nelie's soft, motherly voice urging that he eat. He looked up and saw that she was scarfing down what looked to be beans and rice quite sloppily. Neville noticed that Snape was watching him, his black eyes burning into him.

"Longbottom...grab a bowl and eat."

"Maybe later," he replied, returning to his letter.

At this Snape set his own bowl down and glared at him.

"You think you are above this perfectly good meal?"

"No- no! Not at all...I just...I'm too tired to eat right now. I just need to sit a minute."

The rest of them ate in silence while Neville continued to write and this is what he had so far:

_Ginny,_

_I'm so happy to hear from you. I'd tell you where I am currently but it is too dangerous at the moment. So far we've had no luck finding what we're here searching for, hopefully that will all change soon. I miss you and am thinking of you always. As soon as I am able I would love nothing more than to meet the rest of your family but the last thing I would want is to be putting them in harm's way so I will have to let you know when it is safe enough for me to visit. I hope all is well at Hogwarts-_

Nelie finished eating first and quickly stood up.

"I'll be right back."

"Wait- where are you going? We need to stay together!" hissed Maitland.

But Nelie had already disappeared into the forest.

"Leave the girl alone," warned Snape, "she may be onto something."

"Longbottom!" barked Snape, "why don't you put yourself to use and help us set up camp."

Maitland put out the fire and then began to help Snape and Neville set up the tent. Once they had finished Nelie still had not returned.

"Where is she?" muttered Maitland.

"I suggest we all get some sleep," started Snape, "we've got an early day ahead of us...you especially Longbottom, since you seem to find yourself variant to the essential needs of most humans- such as eat and sleep. You'll need to find a way to keep up if you plan to continue this journey."

Neville's cheeks grew warm and he decided maybe he needed to listen, he was dreadfully tired and needed to re-energize for tomorrow.

"What about Nelie?" asked Maitland.

"She'll find her way back," answered Neville.

"Well I'm going to stay up and wait for her..." replied Maitland.

Snape went into the tent to sleep and Neville decided to wait with Maitland.

"Hey I've been meaning to ask you something," Neville whispered, "I notice you, your dad and Nelie all have the same ring...what do they mean?"

"Oh...they're nothing special," began Maitland, "just a gift from our mum before she left us...she has one too. It's pretty much the only thing we have left to remember her by."

Neville felt his heart sink for them. He couldn't believe how selfish one person could be- and one who was a wife and a mother- to just abandon your family without so much as a regret. Neville suddenly felt very fortunate to have a loving family, no matter how dysfunctional they could often be.

Suddenly they heard a rustling in the bushes. Both of them jumped up and held out their wands.

Maitland held out his hand, signaling Neville to stay still and just as he was about to point his wand Nelie appeared.

"What are you two still doing up?" she asked.

"Where have you been?" asked Maitland. "We've been worried!"

"It's alright," she hissed, "I was just doing a little exploring."

"Well we're about ready to head off to bed...you should think about joining us."

"Oh Maitland," she began, "since when did you become so accepting of following the rules?"

"C'mon Nelie...we need to settle in for the night...who knows what might be out there watching us right now?"

"Oh alright..." she replied.

All three Longbottoms entered the tent to sleep.

Neville awoke to a loud thud.

He shot up and crawled out of his sleeping bag.

"Lumos," he whispered.

He looked around to see that the others were sound asleep, even Snape who not surprisingly had a scowl even while sleeping.

Neville stood up and crept by the others as not to wake them, luckily the tent they had was enchanted and rather large on the inside, almost the size of a small cottage so they each had plenty of sleeping space. He poked his head outside of the tent and continued to listen.

Silence.

He emerged from the tent and began to walk around the campsite when something caught his eye. He walked forward and found a torn strip of clothing- it was black. Chills ran down his spine and he pocketed his finding and began to walk around some more. Someone had been at their site and from the look of it they hadn't been gone for long. He was just about to go alert the others when he heard the same thud that had awoken him.

He froze and pulled out his wand.

The noise had come from his left so he slowly began walking toward it. He braced himself as he was about to look behind the brush but nothing was there. He turned around and that's when he heard something else- the unmistakable sound of feet, lots of them, pounding on the surface of the dirt and the rustling of bushes. As he looked out he could see a wall of blackness quickly approaching their site. Neville hurried back into the tent to wake the others.

"I've seen something! They're coming! Death Eaters!" he cried out. "We've got to prepare!"

Neville shook Nelie and Maitland.

"Wha' is it? It's two in the mornin' whataya want?" mumbled Maitland.

"DEATH EATERS!" shouted Neville. "THEY'VE FOUND US!"

Suddenly Neville could hear voices approaching.

"They're over here! I discovered them about an hour ago...they're all sound asleep...won't even know what hit 'em."

"Are you sure they're here? They could have abandoned their post and be on foot as we speak."

"No...they're here. And they have the Longbottom boy with them."

"Excellent."

Neville's heart began to pound. This was it, the true test as to how the rest of this journey would play out. It was time to fight.

Neville tried to calm his nerves and brace himself for battle.

"Do not hold back gentlemen...kill if you must."

At this Neville's heart skipped a beat.

"GET UP!" he shouted at his cousins, "THEY'RE COMING!"

Suddenly Snape shot up and jumped out of his sleeping bag.

"ERIFIRENZ!" he shouted and a long stream of fire shot from his wand outside into the night.

"ATTACK!"

Suddenly the cries of Death Eaters echoed through the tent and Neville jumped up to follow Snape into the darkness.

"CAPTURE THE BOY!" someone shouted.

Neville dodged the many attempts to grab him and shot off spell after spell to fend them off.

"LONGBOTTOM RUN!" shouted Snape.

Neville did just as Snape said and took off running but he didn't get far before he realized that it wasn't the right thing to do, the _old_ Neville Longbottom would've ran, but not this Neville Longbottom. He was an entirely different person now, one who no longer saw fear as immobilizing. He wasn't about to leave his cousins alone to fight his battle. He had to think of a plan and quickly. He began to pace thinking if he should send out of patronus to alert the order but realized that if he did he'd possibly be putting them in danger too. Suddenly Neville remembered the five unforgivable curses his uncle had informed him and Harry about during one of their first sessions- the dismerius curse, the puncturius curse, the percutius curse, the susurius curse and the constrius spirus curse. Any of those would come in handy right about now and he silently thanked his uncle for teaching them how to attack with those particular curses.

"That's it!" Neville shouted to himself and quickly put a hand over his mouth.

He turned around and ran back to the campsite where Snape and Maitland were fighting off the Death Eaters- Nelie was no where in sight- from where Neville stood there looked to be no more than thirty of them, but thirty Death Eaters was a big enough threat as is. Neville jumped out of hiding and aimed his wand.

"SUSURIO!" he bellowed.

A ray of gray light exploded from the tip of Neville's wand and the force of the curse nearly tipped Neville over but he somehow remained balanced.

He watched as almost all of the Death Eaters suddenly fell to the ground, all of them grabbing at their ears- groaning in pain, clearly the curse had worked and Neville felt a huge wave of pride flow through him. He had administered a deadly, unforgivable curse and brought twenty Death Eaters to their knees all at once! This curse conjures a buzzing in the victim's ear that continually grows louder and doesn't wear off for an hour. There were still at least ten Death Eaters left unharmed and Neville quickly took action before they could attack. "PERCUTIO!" he bellowed out and at least seven of the Death Eaters began to convulse and shake uncontrollably as shock after shock ran through their bodies, rendering them completely useless.

Neville looked up to see that Snape had been staring at him in shock, his mouth wide open at the optimal heroism demonstrated by none other than Neville Longbottom. In fact, Snape couldn't have looked more horrified that he had been saved by his least favorite student.

Maitland stunned the remaining Death Eaters and Snape quickly uttered a spell that caused the tent- supplies still inside- to take itself apart and fold itself, this all happened in under ten seconds and the tent flew neatly folded into Snape's hands.

"We need to move..._now_! QUICKLY!" shouted Snape.

"But what about Nelie?" asked Maitland. "She's gone!"

"I think I see someone up ahead," began Neville, "maybe she's waiting for us."

The three of them began walking looking out for any signs of where she may be.

"She was there before I left..." started Neville, "when was the last either of you saw her?"

Maitland thought for a moment.

"Well...after you started shouting about Death Eaters we both got up...then I went out to help Severus fight and she came out with me...but after that I don't remember...it's like she just vanished."

"You don't think they took her do you?" Neville asked horrified.

"Silence," muttered Snape, "the Death Eaters are still out here and the last thing we want to do is draw them to us."

The three of them continued walking when out of nowhere a figure jumped out in front of them.

"I've been waiting for you three- what took so long?"

It was Nelie, safe and sound- although she looked a bit annoyed.

"Oh my god! I'm so glad you're safe! You had us worried!" replied Maitland.

"Where have you been all this time?" asked Neville. "Didn't you see us fighting the Death Eaters?"

"I'm sorry," she replied quickly, "I was attempting to send a patronus out but it never made it out past the forrest."

"That's rather unusual..." began Snape softly, "because I sent one out earlier while you all were searching for the key and mine went just fine."

"I must have been doing something wrong," she answered swiftly, "anyways now that we are all together we can move on to the next area of interest."

"And where's that?" asked Maitland.

Neville got out the map but before he could even unroll it Nelie snatched it from his hands.

"According to the map our next destination is Redmurs Hollow," she answered.

"And how far away is that from here?" asked Maitland.

"About ten miles. If we leave now I'm sure we can be there before sunrise."

"Nelie are you insane? We've barely had any sleep and have just been attacked by Death Eaters! We need to sit down and come up with a plan."

"We must keep moving," she argued, "if we sit around they will find us again!"

"Silence!" hissed Snape. "Cornelia is right. We've already been discovered, the Death Eaters know we are here...we will aparate to Redmurs Hollow and go from there."

Once they aparated to Redmurs Hollow they found themselves in an abandoned alleyway.

"We will stay in a hotel for the night and continue on our travels tomorrow," replied Snape.

They all followed him to a dirty, run down looking hotel called Merlin's Slumber Cottage.

Inside they were met with a friendly looking old wizard who was missing quite a few teeth, but continued smiling at them none the less.

"Hello there, what can I do you for?"

"I'll need a room for the night," answered Severus.

"Alright I have six available, two on the north side, three on the west side and one on the east side so what'll it be?"

"Just give me any room."

"Alright then how about room 6C? Here's your key."

Snape grabbed the key without a word and began walking down the hall.

The others followed him silently and when they arrived at their room he sat on the bed and pulled out a bag of assorted food.

"Might as well eat now," he replied dully.

Maitland was the first to grab the bag and dig through it while the others sat back and watched. It was as if he hadn't eaten in weeks.

"Really Maitland? How can you be hungry at a time like this?"

"Shut up!" he replied through a mouthful of an unidentifiable sandwich. "I've got a large stomach."

"That's for sure," she muttered, "it's making up for your small brain..."

"Hey! Ever since we left Frighning Hook you've been rather nasty!"

She glared at him and sat down next to Snape on the bed..

"It's only fair that I get the bed since I'm the only female...I'll leave you men to fight for the tub- I'm sure it might make a suitable bed."

Neville stared at his cousin with confusion. She had been rather snippy lately. He wondered if maybe it was because she was tired or because she thought of it that they were failing in their journey so early. Or there was always the possibility that it was her time of the month- he shuddered at the thought.

Snape pulled out their sleeping bags and handed one to Neville and Maitland.

"We'll be heading off at approximately 5 a.m...that only gives us a couple of hours so you all better be up and ready," warned Snape.

With Nelie settled in the bed, Snape, Maitland and Neville settled into their sleeping bags and drifted off to sleep.

Neville awoke and pulled out his pocket watch. It was 4:30 a.m. Snape expected them all to be up in a half hour so Neville figured he'd stay awake. His stomach immediately began to rumble and he groaned. He decided to finish writing his letter to Ginny.

_Ginny,_

_I'm so happy to hear from you. I'd tell you where I am currently but it is too dangerous at the moment. So far we've had no luck finding what we're here searching for, hopefully that will all change soon. I miss you and am thinking of you always. As soon as I am able I would love nothing more than to meet the rest of your family but the last thing I would want is to be putting them in harm's way so I will have to let you know when it is safe enough for me to visit. I hope all is well at Hogwarts- I wish I could be with you right now. We just had a run in with Death Eaters not too long ago so we were forced to abandon our previous location and are going from there- but don't worry, no one was hurt and we got away just in time. I don't want you to worry about me, I've got everything under control. How is everyone else doing? How is Harry? I look forward to hearing from you again soon._

_Love,_

_Neville_

Neville grabbed his bag and began to sort through what he had brought with him. As soon as he found the compass Ginny had given him he clipped it to his trousers and continued to look through everything. He had also brought along the encyclopedia of evil wizards that mentions Althalos, the black leather bound book that he couldn't open and the old copied document Hermione had found for him months ago telling about Lucob Blydlliss, the original owner of the key.

Neville examined the stained yellow parchment and began to read it once more.

_It is believed that Lucob Blydlliss, the forefather of wizardry, held in his possession a key believed to contain significant powers that are transferred over to the holder of the key, which in case for many years he was the sole owner. According to legend it was created by Lucob himself and enchanted for the purpose of safely locking away his memories inside of Mindossanya's Well, named after his late daughter. It is mentioned that Lucob had originally intended the well to hold only good memories of his late wife and daughter but wizards and witches from all over came to him after hearing rumors of the magic well wanting to see it and from then on he left it open to the public. Before his death he passed the key on to his brother who kept it in his possession until his death, after that the whereabouts of the key were unknown and it soon became the most sought after item by wizards of all kinds. Its magic is believed to be so powerful that if any one person has it for too long that it will begin to slowly take over the owner until eventually their souls become trapped within the key itself- which is why some believe the key is even more powerful than it was during its creation. According to legend many dark wizards have become prisoners of the key, which gives the impression that the next holder of the key will begin to take on evil characteristics of the trapped wizards. _

Neville set the parchment aside and took a deep breath. He pulled out his map and searched for the location of Mindossanya's Well but could not find it. He continued to study the map and was shocked to see something moving on it. A little black dot was moving closer to the hotel they were currently staying at and Neville jumped up and made sure the door was locked. As the black dot got closer he could make out letters that were slowly appearing above the dot.

First came a **V**- at which Neville's heart momentarily stopped- then an **E**, and an **N** then an **L**, **I**, **N**, **G**.

Neville continued to watch with astonishment as the remaining letters zoomed into place to complete the name: Maven Carling.

Neville gasped as he suddenly recognized the name, Maven Carling was the old fortune telling witch his father had encountered as a boy- the same old witch from Francis' memory who had told of Neville's tie in with the prophecy. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, and in fact took off his glasses to rub his eyes just to make sure he wasn't just seeing things. The little black dot representing Maven had suddenly haulted and Neville sat waiting.

He got up and slowly approached the door, opening it with as little exertion as possible. He poked his head outside but no one was there. He looked down at the map again and saw that the little black dot had begun moving once again. He looked to his left and then his right and waited. Suddenly he heard her voice:

_'The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches...born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the dark lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the dark lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...the one with the power to vanquish the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies...'_

Neville closed the door behind him and followed the sound of the voice as it lingered nearer.

_'The chosen one is not alone...another ally will come forth and bloom as the time entails...born as the seventh month dies to those who sacrificed their souls...the dark lord hath not marked him, for he has chosen the one he must defeat...the ally will rise from the bottom, where a life of tragedy has plagued him and he will be the only hope if the chosen one should fail...the dark lord knows not that he holds the key, a new enemy for him shall rise.'_

"W-where are you?" he called out.

_"Follow my voice dear boy and you shall find what it is you seek-"_

Neville continued to follow the voice and with each step her voice became clearer.

He turned the corner and waited.

"Wait- how do I know you are who you present yourself to be?" he asked.

_"You must trust your instincts child...follow the sound of my voice."_

"Show yourself!"

Suddenly a light mist began to appear right before Neville's eyes, which soon began to take on a human form. The figure was small and malformed- of that of an old woman. As the mist grew darker Neville could make out the form of Maven Carling. She had long white hair and was wearing old, rags which were torn and dirty. Her nose was large and crooked and she had jagged, yellow teeth but the most distinguished trait that Neville clearly remembered his father describing from Francis' memory was her eyes- one was completely white and the other black. The sight of her made Neville's hair stand on end and chills ran throughout his body.

"Are you real?" he asked, as he approached the old witch and stuck a hand out to touch her.

_"Of course I'm real boy, as real as the blood running through your veins. Although I am not actually here...I'm an aparation."_

"So...if you're an aparation then where is the real you?"

_"I have been sent from beyond- the farthest realms of the darkest places imaginable, to help guide you in your search. Tell me boy, who is it that assists you in this journey?"_

"Umm...Severus Snape and my two cousins...why?"

The old witch tsked and she nodded her head slowly.

_"Are these people of which you trust?"_

"Well...I don't trust Snape at all...but I haven't a choice. He was sent by Dumbledore personally..."

The old witch floated towards Neville to which he stepped back.

_"Albus Dumbledore is a wise wizard of peculiar sorts..." _she began, _"trust in him...he has sent Severus for a reason...however, the other two...you need to keep your eyes open when they are around, they are of bad blood..."_

"No..." argued Neville, "they are _my family_. I trust them...it's Snape I don't trust!"

_"Ah but you are young, dear boy...sometimes the heart of the young find it easy to trust in those they are closest to..."_

"What do you mean? What does that even mean?"

_"You shall have to decide for yourself. In the meantime, what you seek is closer than you think...your search is about to draw to an end very soon."_

"_The key_," Neville gasped, "you know where it is!"

The old witch nodded and floated closer.

"Tell me!"

_"This is your destiny my dear child...I can not tell you."_

"Then why have you come here! What good are you doing me?"

_"I have come to warn you...of enemies who linger near...you must find out who and stop them at once."_

"I-I don't understand! Everyone seems to think I know where the key is and I don't! I haven't a clue..."

_"Oh but you do boy...you must search not on land...but within your mind."_

Suddenly the aparation began to fade.

"WAIT!" Neville called out, "please before you go can you tell me where Mindossanya's Well is located! It isn't on my map!"

_"Mindossanya's Well is beyond the heart of the black forrest and past the city of Frithcwen. I must go now."_

As soon as the aparation was gone Neville ran back to their room to alert the others, who had all just gotten up, but before he could Snape spoke.

"Who have you just seen boy?"

Suddenly- remembering what Maven had said about trusting his instincts he clammed up.

"No one," answered Neville.

"You are lying! Where have you been?"

"I was just...you know, wandering around."

Snape glared at him but said nothing more.

They all ate breakfast in silence, except for Neville that is who sat and pondered on all of the events that had taken place. So now he knew where Mindossanya's Well was located but still no idea of where the key could be. _'Search within my mind?' _Neville had no idea what that had meant.

"Aren't you going to eat?"

Neville looked up and saw the others watching him.

"Ummm...I'm not hungry right now, but thanks."

Maitland raised his eyebrows.

"You can't not be hungry mate," he began, "with all of the traveling we've been doing and the Death Eaters we fought..."

"I'll eat something here in a minute."

And it was at that moment his stomach growled loudly in protest.

"_Longbottom_," barked Snape rudely, "I am not going to allow you to drag us down today as you did yesterday, is that clear?"

Neville nodded as his cheeks ignited with humiliation.

He finally decided to give in to his hunger and reach for a biscuit, which soon turned into two and then three and until he had finally consumed five greasy, butter and jelly lathered biscuits. He sat with a feeling of disgust and discomfort as the others began packing up their things.

"Um would you all excuse me for a moment. I'll be back shortly.""

Before anyone even had time to question him he quickly ran out of the room and began looking for an exit. Once he found one he followed it out into the back alleyway of the hotel and immediately allowed for his breakfast to expel from his body. He knew it would have been too risky to get rid of it in the washroom of their room because there were far too many people around for him to be doing this. He had been lucky so far that no one had questioned him further.

Once he had gotten all of it up he wiped his mouth and returned to the room where they all stood, ready to leave.

"Where did you go?" asked Maitland.

"Don't worry about it," replied Neville.

"The map, Longbottom," drawled Snape, "let me see it."

Neville handed over the map and Snape examined it closely.

"We will going to aparate to Ricmor forrest and resume our search there."

Once they reached Ricmor forrest they all wasted no time in resuming their search. Snape informed them to all stay within earshot of each other and to meet back in an hour to report their progress. Neville knew there was no point in searching due to what Maven had told him but wasn't so sure it would be a wise thing to tell the others just yet- especially Snape.

Neville decided to look through his father's journal again and see if he could find anything of importance. He decided to skip an entry, as it only mentioned visiting the grandparents he never met. He didn't think that was anything that could help him so he turned the page.

**July 2nd, 1978**

**Alice and I have just arrived at Redmurs Hollow and we are trying to throw off anyone who might be following us. We've already disposed of the key, where we've chosen to place it is where no one would think to look. Alice is feeling a little under the weather, of course it certainly doesn't help that we have just put the finishing touches on both our wills today...we both agree that it best our arrangements and final wishes be in order just in case something might happen to us during this time. I can't help but think back to that old witch from my first year at Hogwarts...what she prophesized to me plays in my mind everyday...**

Neville closed his father's journal and thought hard. So if Redmurs Hollow was the last place they were before getting rid of the key what was the point of this entire journey? Was it simply a game of cat and mouse? Was it simply to buy Snape more time so he himself could find the key before Neville does? Neville was so confused. Maven Carling had told him that the key wasn't hidden in any location they would be searching but rather somewhere in his mind.

Neville's thoughts were soon interrupted by a soft pop and he turned around to see himself face to face with Francis. Neville stared at his uncle in shock.

"Francis!" he cried, "what are you doing here? How did you know where we were?"

"Hello Neville," he greeted, "Severus sent a patronus out last night telling us where you would be heading today and I just thought I would stop by and see how things were going. Although, I'm afraid I can't stay long."

"Well, so far we've had no luck..." began Neville glumly. "Although we were attacked at Frighning Hook...by Death Eaters."

Francis' face fell.

"We all turned up okay though, in fact, I have you to thank because those unforgivable curses you taught Harry and I came in real handy. I took down about twenty Death Eaters all at once with those!"

Francis put an arm around the boy.

"I'm glad I was able to help."

"So after that we aparated to Redmurs Hollow and stayed at a hotel which is where I saw Maven Carling's aparation and she told me to be careful of enemies who are near and that I wouldn't find the key anywhere but my mind..."

Francis studied the boy hard.

"She also told me where Mindossanya's Well is..."

"It sounds as though you've accomplished a lot," replied Francis.

"Not really," replied Neville sadly, "I have no idea what she means by searching my mind. I have no idea where this key is! I just read an entry of my dad's and Redmurs Hollow was the last place they were at before hiding the key. Nothing is making any sense. Why were we sent out here to search for something that clearly isn't here?"

Francis thought a moment.

"Maybe there are other things you are supposed to be looking for," he suggested.

Neville sighed and began to walk the opposite direction.

"Would you like to say hello to the others?"

Francis followed Neville back to their meeting place where the others were patiently waiting.

"Dad!" cried Maitland as he ran to give his father a high five.

"Hello son," replied Francis with a huge grin. "Severus," he nodded.

Snape returned the nod but remained silent.

Everyone had acknowledged Francis except for Nelie, who stood back watching quietly.

"My Cornelia, you are awfully quiet," teased Francis as he approached her. "Cat got your tongue?"

"Hello Francis," she replied dryly.

Francis stared at his daughter perplexed.

"Don't worry dad," began Maitland, "she's been in a rotten mood since last night. Apparently she just didn't realize what she'd gotten herself into. You know, this isn't a vacation. There won't be any time for hair or spa appointments."

Nelie glared at her brother and shoved him hard.

"Cornelia! What has gotten into you?" asked Francis.

"Nothing," she muttered, "I'm just tired. I want to find this key so we can all go home."

"You were the one who wanted so badly to come on this journey," Francis reminded her, "so now you need to just grin and bear it like everyone else."

"I don't have to grin and bear anything," she snapped.

Maitland leaned in to his father and whispered.

_"It seems to be in agreement that it's her time of the month..."_

"I heard that!" snapped Nelie.

"Well I don't want to keep you any longer," replied Francis, "Severus, is there anything any of us back home can do?"

"Keep look out for more patronuses," he replied dully.

Francis nodded.

"The order will be keeping in touch. Good luck."

And with a pop he was gone.

As soon as Francis was gone they all continued to search separately and a few minutes into wandering off, Neville heard footsteps behind him. It was Nelie.

"Oy," she called, "sorry I've been so...unbearable."

"It's alright," replied Neville, "is everything okay though?"

"Yeah...just got a lot on my mind and I'm just really tired- I mean, we all are right?" she laughed and squeezed Neville's arm, which caused him to flinch, her grip was strong. When she finally let go he rubbed his arm.

"So...what's that book you are always taking out to look at?" she asked.

"This one?" Neville replied, holding up his dad's journal.

"Yeah."

"It's my dad's journal...Francis gave it to me as a gift."

"Oh how lovely," replied Nelie with a smile, "I bet he has all kinds of things written in there..."

Neville studied his cousin. She looked to have lightened up quite a bit and Neville was curious as to why she had such a sudden change in mood.

"Would you mind if I had a look?" asked Nelie.

"Maybe later," answered Neville as he tucked it back into his robe pocket. "Right now I need it for something."

Nelie nodded and smiled.

"Well, should we be getting back to it then?" she asked.

The rest of the search turned up nothing and they all decided to set up camp and call it a day.

Snape was busy preparing lunch and Maitland and Nelie were each doing their own thing while Neville decided to take a nap. He crawled into the tent and drifted off to sleep.

_"They are getting closer Lord- far too close now."_

_"I am fully aware Althalos- and the Death Eaters you sent for them are blithering cowards but I have taken care of that...only the best are worthy enough to serve under my command."_

_"I apologize my Lord- the boy is much stronger and more powerful than he appears-"_

_"Do not fail me, Althalos...or you will suffer a fate much worse than those who failed to capture the boy..."_

_"Yes my Lord."_

_"The boy knows something of which we do not...you must find out what that is...and when you do, I want him delivered to me...alive...the others you may kill. I must destroy this boy and retrieve the key before I can move on to the Potter boy."_

Neville shot up and looked around, he was alone. He was drenched in a cold sweat and shaking uncontrollably. This hadn't been a dream- it had been a conversation between Voldemort and Athalos Bloodworth- and he had heard it as if he were there with them!

Suddenly his bag began to shake and a loud noise emitted from it. Neville scrambled over to it and looked for whatever could be the cause. It had been his rememberall. It was lit up and glowing a deep scarlet and an ear splitting shriek echoed until Neville grabbed it.

He had completely forgot that his gran had stuck it into his bag before he departed, but what could he have possibly forgotten. Neville brought the sphere up to his face and examined it. Although it had now gone silent it was still glowing and the cloud of scarlet smoke inside grew thicker. Neville had had the rememberall since his first year but he had never seen it do anything such as what was happening before. Suddenly, through the smoke letters became apparent.

Neville watched as a sentence suddenly became clear:

"The answer lies within your mind. Search deep within to break the bind."

Neville thought about what this could mean when suddenly an idea hit him.

He closed his eyes and brought his wand up to his temple. He cleared his mind of everything else and focused solely on his parents. He slowly drew his wand away from his head and a long, thin silvery thread was pulled out, followed by another and another until there were no more. He transferred the memories to his rememberall and watched as they all played out.

Starting with the night he was born and the entire first year of his life- the only time he had with his parents- played out before him and then something he did not immediately recognize that followed. He saw a small, cozy looking cottage out in a forrest- it took him a minute to realize that while he had never been to this place, he had seen it in old photographs.

The next thing he knew the images were gone and his rememberall returned to normal.

Neville gasped. That's where his parents had hidden the key! He knew it now!

He quickly placed the rememberall back into his bag and poked his head out of the tent to see if the others had noticed anything. They were all still preoccupied so he went back inside the tent and opened his father's journal to the read the entry that he had skipped over.

**July 1st, 1978**

**Alice and I have just left her parent's house, she hadn't seen them in nearly a year and wished to stop by and say hello as it was along our way. They were both very happy to see us, although worried for us as everyone seems to be. Unfortunately Alice's mum and dad are going downhill fast, they were not well at all when we visited. It broke poor Alice's heart to see them in such bad health. I fear they will not be with us for much longer...**

It all made sense now! Neville's parents had left the key at his mum's childhood home. And as awful as it sounded, with the revelation that they were ill no one would suspect that they had it. It was always Neville's gran who was believed to be involved with the whereabouts of the key; Neville had never met his mum's parents because they had both died before he was born- not too long after his parents went to visit them that day. Now all Neville had to do was figure out where their cottage was located.

Neville had made the decision that he would go about finding his grandparent's cottage alone, he would leave tonight after the rest of them went to sleep. He had decided this for two different reasons- 1. It would be too dangerous- after all, he didn't know who now occupied the residence- or if anyone did at all. 2. This was something that he felt he should do alone, after all, it was _his_ destiny- his fate to find this key.

Neville set the note he had written for all of them down on his pillow. It read as follows:

_Dear all, _

_I've discovered where the key is and I've gone off to find it- hopefully before anyone else does. Please do not attempt to follow me- it is much too dangerous and I don't want anyone to get hurt. As soon as I get the key I promise I will send a patronus and then you are all free to come meet with me but until then all I can ask is that you please stay where you are. I know this probably isn't the smartest thing to do but it feels like the right thing to do. By the time you finish reading this I'll already be too far to trace. Please forgive me and do not think of this as me abandoning you but instead as protecting you- return home if you feel it is safer but I will leave that decision to all of you. I trust that you all will do what is right._

_Neville_

He carefully slung his bag over his shoulders and with one last, silent good-bye he set off into the night.

**Author's Note: **Hello! I promised many of you through P.M. that I hadn't forgotten this story! I can not believe that my last update was in October of '09! Well, I suppose I owe a little explanation as to why it's been so long since I've updated!

For starters- as corny as this may sound I met and fell in love with someone back in November of '09 and a lot of my time has been taken with that, also I moved into a new house and didn't have internet for awhile...so for the longest time I just couldn't come up with how to continue on with this story. I was having quite a writer's block...but I literally forced myself to sit down and continue on knowing that I have quite a few people out there who are enjoying this story and I don't want to let any of you down!

I hope that you all continue to read my story and leave reviews! That is what keeps me going. Although, I must note that updates will probably still be slithering in quite slowly as I'm still working full-time and not on my computer as much as I used to be but I promise not to have another hiatus as long as this one again!

So what do you all think so far? How is the story progressing? Do you have any theories as to what may happen? Questions? Thoughts? Comments? Don't be shy! Let me know!

Chapter 27 to follow. :)

Thanks again to all of my loyal subscribers and readers!


	28. Conspiracies

**Chapter 27: **Conspiracies

Neville looked down at his pocket watch and groaned. He had estimated that he had been walking for about three hours now and he had done so having only stopped to rest once. According to the map he was about ten miles from Herring's Grove.

He wondered if the others had discovered he was gone yet and hoped that his cousins wouldn't be too angry with him, obviously he knew Snape would be livid and would probably have every intention of murdering him before Voldemort even got a chance to.

His stomach had been rumbling the entire way and he only continued to ignore it. He suddenly wished that he were somewhere where there was a scale so he could weigh himself, he realized this was a bit of a silly thought considering he was on a quest and should be focusing on his task of finding the key, but he couldn't help it. He supposed that it was good for him to do all of this walking and figured he'd at least lost another couple of pounds or so but there was no way of knowing without access to a scale or full length mirror.

_"Do not be tempted with the hunger pains you are feeling...your body is trying to make a fool of you, resist the urge to eat and you will only become more powerful...I promise you! You can't give up now...we're so close..."_

Neville shook his head hard. He hadn't encountered the _voice _as often ever since he'd left to journey for the key but it had been more assertive and demanding than ever. He knew that he should be eating but he simply couldn't bring himself to- it was a combination of many things, such as his already nervous stomach which always seemed to be flopping in one direction or another- never settled, his exhaustion- rendering him too weak to exert the energy needed to feed himself...and of course, the _voice_, always reminding him of how close he truly was to his ultimate goal.

Suddenly, as he was walking he tripped over something and tumbled down a small hill into some overgrown brush, after which- he was horrified to discover unrecognizable voices very close by.

"D'you hear that? We're not alone!"

"Shut up Brundle! It's probably just some sort of harmless critter."

"But what if it isn't?"

Neville's blood ran cold and a shiver ran down his spine as he continued listening, his breath held tight.

"Shut yer mouth, idiot! We're lucky to have escaped you know...I could still hear the screams of the others as we ran...never forget it as long as I live."

"What do you think our Lord did to them?"

"I don't want to imagine...didn't sound too merciful though."

"So...you're saying if _we_ find this Longbottom boy and take him to our Lord that he'll see us worthy...and render us our lives?"

"Well look at us now? We've survived this far...the others are surely dead- either that or still being tortured toward a slow, agonizing death as we speak."

"That Longbottom boy...he was quick, much too quick for my eager hands. I tried to grab him 'bout three or four times and he just kept shooting off all sorts of spells...someone has trained him exceptionally well...you think it was Severus?"

The other voice let out a low, gritty, sinister laugh which seemed to shake the ground under which Neville sat, virtually motionless.

"Severus isn't even _that_ advanced in his experience...he never really was much of a fighter...it was most definitely an Auror that trained the boy...a dark one at that."

Neville tried to process everything that was being said. These two were Death Eaters that had ultimately escaped an imminent death sentence from Voldemort for failing to capture him at Frighning Hook, which would make them both that more determined to keep from failing again.

"So according to this device the boy is very close..."

Neville gasped, they had been tracking him.

"Yeah but we don't know how accurate that thing is...did Jessica say anything else when she gave it to you?"

Neville's heart sank, he had a feeling this Jessica mentioned was the same woman who had once been Francis' wife and Nelie and Maitland's mother.

"She didn't...although she wants to get her hands on that boy just as badly as we do...apparently there is some sort of unbreakable vow involved..."

Neville was just about to sneak away when to his horror, his rememberall went off.

"D'you hear that? It's coming from down there!"

Neville jumped out of the brush and began running down the hill.

"There! Someone's been listening! Get 'em!"

Neville absolutely under no circumstance could allow himself to be captured, not this early, and especially not by these two particular blood-thirsty Death Eaters.

Suddenly he remembered the vial of hair Lupin had given them all before they had departed, while still running he quickly yanked the vial chain necklace off, grabbed a strand of hair and fumbled in his pockets for the polyjuice potion Snape had given them. He quickly dropped the hair in, drank the contents, pulled his glasses off and leapt into a small creek where while underwater his transformation would be concealed from the two Death Eaters.

The creek was deeper than he would have assumed as he quickly sank toward the bottom and began to swim around, waiting and hoping for the transformation to be complete.

He quickly pushed himself back up to the surface and emerged and sure enough there- barely a foot from the bank stood the two Death Eaters, staring at him completely dumbfounded- which so far Neville had taken as a good sign.

One of the Death Eaters was quite large, easily over six feet tall with a very muscular build. He had long, unkempt brown hair along with a scraggly beard while the other one was much shorter, with a wiry build who had thinning gray hair.

"Who are you and why are you trespassing on our turf?" asked the bigger of the two.

Without any hesitation Neville answered.

"My name is Shelby Bell," Neville paused, a voice that was not his own came out of him and it had momentarily startled him. "I'm here for the same reason you gentlemen are."

The larger of the two Death Eaters crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Neville suspiciously.

"Oh yeah?" he began, "and what reason might that be?"

"Neville Longbottom," Neville answered sharply, "he is the one who has the key isn't he? I was sent to find him and bring him to someone."

Neville had to control himself from appearing nervous or displaying any visible shaking otherwise the jig would be up, although he was surprised with how confident and convincing he had sounded so far, the dialogue he fed them had flowed seemingly naturally.

"Sent by who and brought to who?" asked the wiry Death Eater.

"Jessica Bloodworth," Neville answered smoothly.

"See I knew it!" bellowed the larger Death Eater, "Jessica is toying with us! That bitch! She sent us off with a faulty tracking device knowing all well- she's been fucking us this entire time! I bet you she's got hundreds of you searching for that boy hasn't she?"

Neville shrugged.

While the two Death Eaters began to go over conspiracies with each other Neville turned back around and headed to the edge of the creek, he got on his knees and brought his face down to view his reflection in the water.

His hair was long and black, pulled back into a ponytail and his eyes were a piercing blue-gray. His face was long and thin and there was a very distinct crescent shaped scar near the corner of his left eye. It was shocking to see himself as someone else but he had to put that all in the back of his mind if he were to pull this off.

Slowly he stood up and walked back to the Death Eaters.

"Shelby Bell did you say your name was?" asked the wiry Death Eater

Neville nodded.

"Wouldn't happen to be the son of Leland and Phoebe would ye?"

"I am."

The Death Eaters nodded to each other and took a step back. It seemed as though he was legit and Neville slowly released his breath.

"Well, we won't be keeping you from your duties any longer Mr. Bell," replied the larger Death Eater with a nod.

Neville nodded back and waited until they both turned and walked out of sight before he took off running back onto the path. He pulled out the map to redirect himself.

Another hour had passed and Neville had finally arrived at Herring's Grove. He wasn't quite sure where to go from here so he sat down atop a large rock and pulled out the map.

Maven Carling had mentioned Mindossanya's Well being located beyond the heart of the Black Forest and past the city of Frithcwen. According to the map the Black Forest was at least another 150 miles from where he currently was and there would be no way he'd be able to walk that distance in a reasonable amount of time. He had decided no matter how dangerous it may be he would apparate, it was a risk he had to take.

He stood up and apparated and when he came to he glanced around at his new surroundings. He looked down at the map and sure enough he was in the Black Forest and Frithcwen was only 20 miles away. Neville's heart lifted as he realized how close he was getting.

He began walking down a dirt path through the forest and followed it for approximately two or three miles when he spotted something that he could not afford to ignore. He stopped and saw himself staring at the cottage his rememberall had revealed to him- his grandparents' cottage. Neville's eyes went wide and his mouth fell open.

For one, he hadn't expected it to be so easy to find and secondly, he couldn't believe that he was actually here- in front of the destination that had held the very key that had occupied his thoughts for these past months. The mystery would soon be over and the fight to keep it safe would soon begin and he was ready.

He walked up to the door and knocked. After waiting a minute he knocked again and then went to the side of the cottage to peer through the windows. They were so dirty that he could barely see inside- all that could be seen was darkness.

He approached the door again and knocked once more and after no one answered he placed his hand on the knob and slowly turned it and made his way inside.

"Lumos."

From what he could see the cottage had been abandoned for as long as his grandparents had been dead. The first room he encountered was the sitting room which was still furnished. Everything was covered in cobwebs. Neville began exploring a little bit and went into the kitchen where there were still dirty, cobweb infested dishes on the dust covered table. There were unwashed dishes in the sink and a vase- which had once held flowers- sat on the counter.

It was so weird to Neville to see his grandparent's cottage as it had been while they were still alive. It was as though someone had left in a hurry and hadn't had time to clear it out- as if it could still be lived in or returned to. He made his way back into the sitting room and on the small coffee table by the couch was a newspaper dating back to January 4th, 1980 with the headline of **"SIGHTINGS OF YOU-KNOW-WHO BEGIN POURING IN AS THOUSANDS REPORT HIS RETURN"**

Neville set the newspaper back down and began to investigate the rest of the cottage. He soon found himself upstairs. He walked down the hallway to a door and opened it. Inside was a small, pink canopy bed in the corner with a white night stand beside it and on the night stand was a framed photo of someone. Neville received chills as he soon realized this must have once been his mother's room. He advanced toward the bed and sat down and looked around more. There wasn't much in the room although nothing looked as though it had ever been moved or tampered with after she moved out. His heart warmed slightly at the thought of mentally being closer to his mother simply by being in her childhood room.

He picked up the framed photo from her night stand, blew away the dust and examined it closely. In the photo was a boy who was winking and smiling. He looked to be no older than seventeen, he had dark brown hair and brown eyes and it suddenly hit Neville that it was his father Frank.

Neville stared at the photo with a bittersweet feeling, he had never had the chance to know either of his parents and yet here was his father- right in front of him smiling, happy and _normal_ in a photo, it simply wasn't fair.

He sighed and tucked the photo away into his bag and exited his mother's room. He went in and out all of the other rooms and suddenly remembered that he had been there to search for the key, not reminisce on memories that simply never were and will never be.

Where on earth could this key be hidden? While the cottage didn't look very large on the outside the inside was of decent size and the key could be _anywhere_. Neville decided not to waste anymore time and began to look everywhere imaginable. He searched every cupboard, cabinet, drawer- every room, every nook and cranny until he realized he hadn't even begun to search outside. He made his way out of the house and to the cellar and with all his might he pried open the doors and made his way down into the darkness.

"Lumos."

Neville waved his wand around the small space and saw that it was empty other than a few yard supplies, the area was small and dank- and smelled unpleasantly of must and dirt. Neville found that not only was he growing claustrophobic but was having a hard time breathing. He imagined that the doors to this cellar hadn't been opened in nearly twenty years.

He was about to make his way out when something caught his eye- he turned and noticed a small door in the back corner. He went over to examine it, it was small- most certainly not big enough to walk through. He crouched down and tried to open it but it wouldn't budge. He brought his wand up to it and noticed a small inscription on top which read as follows:

_Caveo! Illud non a amicus of thy pius averto, malum habito quisnam vadum tendo obduco per is ianua es proditor of thy to order quod mos sino a plurimus unmerciful fortuna!_

Neville concluded that it was written in Latin but wasn't very good at translating. He reached for his compass and wondered if it would be able to translate the message- after all, it did practically everything else. He held the compass up and began to read the message aloud.

"Caveo! Illud non a amicus of thy pius averto, malum habito quisnam vadum tendo obduco per is ianua es proditor of thy to order quod mos sino a plurimus unmerciful fortuna!"

Suddenly his compass lit up and began to shake and then to his amusement, speak.

"Beware! Those not a friend of thy kind turn back, evil dwellers who shall try pass through this door are traitors of thy command and will suffer a most unmerciful fate!"

Neville thought for a moment and wondered what on earth could be the meaning of that message- obviously it was there for a reason, and then something suddenly hit him. Why else would a message warning of enemies be carved into a seemingly ordinary door unless something of importance was behind it?

His heart began to race as he realized the key had to be behind this door, but how was he to get inside? For all he knew the door could be enchanted and if that were the case he'd be wasting valuable time trying to figure out how to get in.

Neville ran his fingers over the carved inscription and was shocked to find that it began glowing and a strikingly familiar voice began to speak:

_"Are you a friend or foe?"_

"I am Neville Longbottom...I'm sure you must remember me?"

By now Neville recognized that the voice belonged to none other than Maven Carling.

_"Ah- congratulations my boy...you have found your way quite admirably- just as I suspected you would."_

"The key...is it inside of this door?"

_"Yes my child, but you mustn't waste any time. There are enemies all around and you must leave here the moment you retrieve the key."_

"How do I get inside?"

_"Place both hands on the center of the door- it is enchanted and can only be opened by those who are Longbottoms by blood, however, many evil wizards have found ways around this enchantment and as the inscription says...they have all met a most unmercifully tedious fate- you must be careful for what may lurk within...be on your guard at all times."_

At this Neville's heart jumped into his throat and he swallowed the developing lump.

_"Go now boy...take the key and run- for now your journey truly begins."_

Neville placed both his hands on the center of the door and instantly it popped open and Neville crawled inside, the door closing behind him. The crawl space was barely big enough to contain himself- the top of his head was scraping the ceiling and the sides were forcing his arms down into his ribcage. He crawled in complete darkness as he didn't even have enough room to hold his wand out in front of him. He hoped that it wouldn't be much longer as he was severely cramped and claustrophobic.

He estimated that he had crawled for at least five minutes when he began to notice the crawl space gradually growing wider and taller to where he could move around more. After a few more feet he could stand, although he still had to crouch to keep his head from touching the ceiling. Finally he could fully stand, he stretched his limbs for a minute and brought out his wand.

"Lumos."

Neville had to adjust to the light for a moment as he had spent about ten minutes in complete darkness but as soon as he did his mouth fell open as he observed his surroundings. The crawl space had led to a small underground hideout of sorts that had been made into some sort of posh gathering place. The room was large and fully furnished, also everything was intact as if it could still be inhabitable, as if it's former residents had left and would be returning at any moment. Everything seemed to be left as it was the last time it had been used, much like his grandparent's cottage. It was eerie and Neville felt a chill run through him. He felt much like a voyeur.

He noticed candles atop a marble table top and held out his wand.

"Incendio."

Suddenly all of the candles in the room lit up the place and Neville walked around in awe examining the room. It was very elegant and cozy at the same time. There was a chandelier hanging from the ceiling and at least twenty round marble top tables equipped with fancy candles and wine glasses- some with wine still in them! Some tables had playing cards still out and others had newspapers and knitting supplies among other things.

In one corner of the room there was a dart board and on another end was a wizard's chess board. Near the entrance of the room was a long red plush couch surrounded by six large reclining chairs sitting in front of a small built in fireplace.

Neville wondered what the place had been used for but before he thought about it too much he remembered what Maven had said and began to search for the key.

_"If I were a key...where would I be?"_

Neville's parents had been the ones who had hid the key and he realized that in order to find it he had to put himself in his parents shoes, at the time they had been in imminent danger and had to think of a clever place to hide it- where no one would think to look.

Neville began searching furiously, under couch and chair cushions, in cupboards, under tables anywhere he could think to look but it was leading nowhere and he was getting angry. He wandered into the kitchen area where there was a small stove and a few dishes.

Neville walked back over to the couch, sat down and pulled out the framed photo of his father and stared at it as he winked and smiled up at him.

"_Where_ have you hidden this key?" he asked aloud to the photo. "I've made it this far and now nothing is coming to me! Please help me!"

As if expecting his father to answer he watched the photo with anticipation.

"Well you've done a fine job of hiding it because I haven't the slightest clue on where to look! I-I need something...some sort of sign or clue..."

Suddenly a loud noise caused Neville to jump up and drop the photo. It crashed to the stone floor with an echoing crack as the glass shattered and the frame broke apart.

"Oh no!"

Neville scrambled to the floor and picked it up only to discover a folded piece of paper had been hidden behind the photo. Neville unfolded the paper and read its contents:

_Dearest Son,_

_If you shall ever find this cherished photograph of your father I want you to keep it and know that we love you so very much. My lovely son, you are so small today and so innocent and full of love but it kills me to know that I have brought you into this world that is so full of danger. As you grow older you will discover your fate and I am sorry that this overbearing duty has been placed upon your innocent head. Your father and I will do everything we can to protect you until that time comes- and if not us, you are in the hands of the Order. I watch you grow everyday and count my blessings as to how lucky Frank and I are to have such a beautiful blessing brought upon us, especially during such dark times. You are our light, little Longbottom and no matter what may happen your father and I will always be with you. If you find yourself reading this right now it no doubt means that your journey has begun, just remember that we are right here with you on your journey, doing everything we can to protect you- even if it is in spirit. We believe in you son, so very much. Do not ever give up- do not ever lose hope. I wish you a long life full of love and happiness._

_With all my love,_

_Mum_

_P.S. There is another photo for you in the den._

Neville re-read the letter at least five times before he felt his eyes begin to water over. His mum had known that he would be brought to the cottage and she had written that for _him_. He tucked the letter into his father's journal and stood up. There was another photo he had to find. He searched the entire room over again top to bottom but hadn't seen any sign of a photo. Just as he was about to sit down and mull things over he spotted a similar door to that of the one in the cellar and went over to it. He pulled it open and crawled inside- "Lumos."

Inside was a tiny room that consisted of a crib. Neville looked inside the crib and in it was a tiny stuffed lion and a pillow with his name embroidered on it. He lifted up the pillow and underneath was the photograph his mother had promised.

He replaced the pillow back inside the crib and picked up the photo to examine it. He brushed away the dirt and dust and in the photo was a smiling, happy family- _his family_. His father was beaming proudly with an arm around his dimpled wife who cradled their infant son back and forth.

Neville hadn't seen many photos of himself as a small child so seeing himself with his parents as a newborn was quite a sight. He didn't look any older than a few weeks and in the photo he was yawning over and over again and his eyes were moments away from closing. Neville slowly took the back of the photo off and sure enough there was an identical folded piece of paper waiting for him. He replaced the photo and put it into his bag. He opened the letter and it read as follows:

_Dearest Son,_

_If you are reading this right now then you are getting closer to fulfilling your destiny. I will lead you to find the key your father and I have fought for so long to protect. Inside the kitchen under the sink is a pensieve along with my old wand, extract the last memory from my wand and place it in the pensieve._

_Mum_

Neville rushed to the kitchen, grabbed the pensieve out from under the sink and pulled out his mother's old wand. "Legilimens."

A long, silvery thread slithered from the wand and fell into the pensieve, Neville slowly placed his head inside and felt himself falling until he found himself in the same place, the same den that the crawl space from the cellar had brought him, only it was clean and well lit and occupied by many people he didn't recognize- that is, until he saw his parents and his one year old self near the back of the room away from everyone else.

Neville made his way to his parents and watched as they whispered to each other while his mother set him down to crawl around on the floor at their feet.

He watched himself as a baby crawl around on the floor, cooing and happily clapping his hands. His brown hair was curly and his brown eyes bright, Neville couldn't help but smile at his former self- he had been a rather cute baby with deep dimples, only he had been a rather fat baby. It was no wonder he had been fat his entire life, it was simply part of his genetics.

Neville finally looked up at his parents and gasped at how breathtaking his mother had once been. Her blonde hair fell down her shoulders in soft, curls and her round face glowed with radiance. His father on the other hand, looked worn and tired, his brown hair had begun to prematurely gray and he looked as though he hadn't shaven in weeks.

"_Frank_!" hissed Alice so that no one could hear. "What are we supposed to do with _this_?" she asked as she slowly dug her right hand into the pocket of her dress and pulled something out- although not all the way, just enough for Frank to know what it was.

"Alice just relax," replied Frank, looking around to make sure no one had been watching them. "We're just going to stick to the plan alright? You remember?"

"But what if someone sees us..."

"Oh Alice," began Frank as he brought a hand up to her cheek and gave it a pinch, "you always are such a worrier, it's cute."

"This is serious Frank! We can't be caught doing this or-or...that'll be the end of _everything_. Everything we've worked so hard to protect..."

"Don't worry darling," began Frank as he placed a hand around her waist, "it'll all be fine- now go on...just as we discussed."

Alice nodded and Neville watched as she slowly brought her hand out of her pocket and began walking toward the exit of the crawl space. Neville stumbled after her and followed her inside. "Lumos," he whispered as if forgetting that this was simply a memory and his mother couldn't hear him or detect his presence.

Neville stood astonished as his mother stopped and removed a brick from the wall and placed the key inside then she placed her wand to the brick and mumbled something in latin.

"Occulto is specialis insquequo habitum lets is solvo."

Neville was about to leave the memory when he was startled to see that his mother had turned around and looked directly at him. He jumped and fell back into the wall.

Alice smiled and began to approach him.

"Do not be scared of me..." she began, "I know why you are here Neville and now that you know where the key is you can successfully continue your journey."

"Mum? H-how are you talking to me-"

But she didn't answer him and Neville's heart sunk as he realized that she wasn't really talking _to him_- but rather talking _at_ _him_, just like with the letters and the pensieve this was simply nothing more than her guiding him- she knew eventually that the time would come for him to embark on his quest to fulfill the second half of the prophecy and she had just wanted to make sure that she could communicate with him somehow if something were to happen to her.

"I realize that I can't see you right now...but you can see me and I just want you to know...that I love you and I have faith in you. You were chosen for this task for a reason- you are brave, strong and passionate- you are kind, smart and devoted to your family and friends...this isn't a task that just anyone could take on,"

Neville held his breath as his mother took a few more steps closer toward him.

"You have the heart of a lamb but the brawn of a warrior. If you are hearing this right now then there is no doubt in my mind that you will succeed and help restore our world to what it was meant to be. Please be careful and be cautious of who you let in- there will be enemies all around trying to get you to trust in them but don't- only trust in those who ask nothing of you, those are the people who are your true allies. I realize now more than ever how special your father and my time is with you...because at any given moment we may not be around to watch you grow up and to help guide you through this journey and while I hope that is not the case I unfortunately get the feeling that your father and I are running out of luck,"

"To retrieve the key place your wand to the brick and repeat this _'EGO sum habitum hic aborior is specialis solvo,'_ "

Neville felt a tear run down his cheek.

"Neville," she began softly, "before I go I must tell you do not ever give up, do not ever feel like you are alone because you aren't. You have so many people who love you and will be at your side to fight- I am so proud of all that you have accomplished son. I love you so much. Good luck."

And with that Neville's mother walked right through him to return to the den and Neville felt himself being pulled away until he was back in the den during present time.

He quickly ran through the exit of the crawl space, approached the brick and placed his wand to it.

"EGO sum habitum hic aborior is specialis solvo."

The brick removed itself from the wall and Neville reached inside and pulled out the key.

Finally! After all of this wondering and waiting he had finally found the key! He placed it in his bag but before he could return to the den the opposite wall began to shake and an opening revealed itself to Neville, beckoning him to enter.

He entered and found himself in a large, candle lit tunnel. He followed the tunnel until it stopped and he found himself in a dark circular room, he looked up and realized he could see a circle of light coming from above him. He waved his wand over himself "Wingardium Leviosa!" and soon he was floating up the circle to the top where he found himself outside. He jumped down and examined what he had just exited out of and gasped when he realized it was a well- _Mindossanya's Well_, it had to be! His excitment rose as he felt the pieces coming together, it all made sense now! Why the key had been hidden at his grandparent's cottage- and their cellar leading to Mindossanya's Well, it was all coming together brilliantly.

Neville pulled out his map and noticed two black dots labeled Severus and Maitland located at Herring's Grove, but no sight of Nelie. He apparated to Herring's Grove and sure enough there were Snape, Maitland and Nelie who all stared at him in momentary disbelief.

"LONGBOTTOM!" growled Snape as he leapt for him and dragged him by the collar of his shirt. "What are you trying to get yourself killed!"

"I'm sorry sir but I-"

"SILENCE! What you did was not only stupid but dangerous!"

Neville pulled out his glasses and put them back on and closed his eyes as he waited for the blow from Snape but it never came. He opened his eyes and Snape was studying him closely.

"_You found the key didn't you_..." replied Snape in a mystified whisper.

Neville nodded.

At this Nelie's eyes lit up and she flashed the first genuine smile since they had left Frighning Hook. Snape released Neville and turned around.

"We must leave now," he replied softly.

"Where are we going?" asked Maitland.

"Back to Hogwarts," hissed Snape.

At this Neville beamed and immediately pictured Ginny in his head.

They apparated to Hogwarts and Neville immediately ran in through the doors and flew into the Great Hall where all of the students were currently finishing up their dinner.

Everyone turned to look as Neville ran to the Gryffindor table, at which Ginny leapt up and ran to meet him. He picked her up and twirled her around.

"Neville!" she cried, "what are you doing back so soon?"

"_I found the key_!" he whispered. "I-I didn't think it'd be so simple...I mean we were expecting to be journeying for days- weeks even but I found it!"

"I'm so proud of you Neville! You must be starved- sit down and eat with us."

"Oh no I couldn't possibly," replied Neville, "I'm not hungry at the moment."

Ginny frowned.

"You've lost even more weight," she commented as she spun him around to view him.

"No I haven't..."

"Let's go to the common room where we can talk in private," she whispered.

As soon as they left the trio quickly jumped up to follow them.

When Neville and Ginny reached the common room he retrieved the key from his bag, placed it in his pocket and threw his bag in the corner. He and Ginny sat down and Neville had just begun to tell her about his trip when the trio burst in.

"Blimey mate! Didn't expect to see you back so soon!" exclaimed Ron.

"I'm so glad you're safe!" replied Hermione as she squeezed in between Neville and Ginny and gave him a big hug. "So you found the key I assume?"

"Yes."

"Good on you mate," added Harry as he slapped Neville on the back. "So did you run into any trouble?"

"Well," began Neville, "we were attacked by Death Eaters at Frighning Hook but we all took them down fairly easily-"

"That's not what I heard," began Ginny with a big grin, "don't be so modest Neville. Francis told Tonks who told Charlie who told me that you took all of them down but a few."

At this Neville blushed furiously.

"_You_ took on Death Eaters Neville?" asked Ron incredulously.

"Wouldn't have been able without Francis' training..." replied Neville sheepishly.

"Well we're glad to have you back," replied Harry with a grin.

After a few minutes of Neville telling them the rest of what happened Harry and Ron went off to play a game of wizard's chess and Ginny went upstairs to get ready for bed, so now it was just Hermione and Neville.

"Neville," began Hermione quietly, "you're looking _really _thin...have you been eating since you've been gone?"

"Yes," he replied through grit teeth. He had just gotten back and wanted to relax- not be bombarded and questioned by Hermione of all people.

"Doesn't look like it," she retorted sadly.

"Hermione I've been walking miles and running from Death Eaters...what do you expect- me to come back looking like a stuffed pig?"

She frowned and shook her head sadly.

"_What_?" he asked annoyed.

"I'm telling Francis that you haven't been eating," she declared.

"What! How do you know I haven't been eating? Where you there with us? No!"

"I can tell," she replied.

"How?"

"You look malnourished," she replied matter of factly, "you've got circles under your eyes, your cheeks are starting to sink in and you're very pale."

Neville sat and stared at her in disbelief.

"Can't you just be happy that I found the key and made it back safely?"

"This is for your own good Neville."

"How would you know what's for my own good?"

_"Don't let her win- you have to tell her off! Tell her that's she not welcome. You and I are in control- not that filthy, mugblood! Go on, tell her off!"_

"You'd think that while I was gone you'd learn to mind your own business," he hissed.

Hermione stared at him, her eyes wide and hurt.

"I'm just worried about you..."

"Yeah? Well don't be. _I am fine_ and so help me if you go around to Francis or _anyone_ for that matter spreading lies about me...I'll make things _very_ difficult for you..."

Hermione gasped.

"Is that a threat?"

"You're brilliant- what do you think?"

"Neville what's happening to you?"

"Just leave me alone."

"I can't do that Neville..."

"You can and _you will_," he hissed through gritted teeth, his eyes burning into hers.

Hermione bit her lip, stood up and exited the common room.

"Where's she going?" called Ron from the other side of the room, "what was that all about?"

"Nothing," replied Neville quickly, "she's probably just going to the library."

Ron shrugged and continued with his game.

Neville heard footsteps entering the common room, it was Francis.

"Ah- so I heard that you had returned. Welcome back and I believe a congratulations is in order?"

"Hello Francis," replied Neville.

"Is Hermione alright?" he asked, "as I was coming to find you she stormed out in tears."

"She's fine," muttered Neville.

"Anywho, I'm here to inform you and Harry of a meeting with the Order in an hour at Grimmauld place. Will you both be able to attend?"

Neville nodded.

"What about you Harry?"

"Yeah I'll be there."

"Excellent, well I will allow for you two to do whatever else you need to do. I'll see you both in an hour."

An hour later Neville, Francis and Harry had reached Grimmauld place. Dumbledore, Snape, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mad-Eye Moody, Remus, Sirius, Tonks, Charlie, Fred and George Weasley and Nelie and Maitland were all present already waiting on them to arrive.

Neville entered last and when he did a hush fell over the room and the buzzing whispers of everyone reached his ears at an alarming pace and he rushed to sit next to his cousins while Harry went over to sit with the Weasley's and Francis sat beside Snape. As soon as they had sat down Dumbledore stood up.

"Well done Mr. Longbottom," began Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. "You have surpassed all of our expectations in finding the key much sooner than we could have imagined. Excellent work."

Neville blushed as everyone began clapping, all except for Snape obviously.

"Now we must embark on the other part of this-" began Dumbledore ominously, "having already found the key, this buys us very little time. As far as Voldemort and his Death Eaters are concerned you four are still out there searching- but as soon as he finds out that we have outwitted him he will be livid beyond all means,"

Silence overtook the room.

"He will be even more determined to find the key, destroy Neville and defeat Harry...we mustn't sit around and wait, we'll all have to prepare for his return and for the beginning of a new war."

No one spoke and Dumbledore waited.

"I would like to commend you now Neville for your bravery in facing the Death Eaters whom attacked you all at Frighning Hook and the bold decision you made to embark on your own to retrieve the key. You are showing great promise in this task that was bestowed upon you. Your parents would be overcome with great pride and admiration."

Neville blushed and sunk down in his seat.

"Now, I do not believe it will be long before Voldemort catches on that we already have the key in our possession and this is where you come in Neville, you must _not_ let that key out of your sight- even in sleep- and do not let anyone else have it by any means."

Neville nodded.

"Francis I would like for you to continue training the students at Hogwarts for any potential battles that may take place, Kingsley you will stand guard at the Ministry in place of Tonks and Tonks I would like for you, Fred and George to continue to explore the outside forests for signs of Death Eaters and listen for any information on what they may know. Charlie I want you, Severus and Mad-Eye to patrol Knockturn Alley and be on the look out for any suspicious activity. Finally, Remus and Sirius, I would like for you both to remain here to guide Neville and Harry if any concerns may arise."

"What about us?" asked Maitland.

Dumbledore smiled kindly.

"I was actually hoping that you and Cornelia would assist your father in training some of the younger students at Hogwarts? Would that be of interest to either of you?"

Maitland smiled.

"Cool!"

However, Nelie on the other hand did not look all too pleased. She had sat silent the entire time, arms folded over her chest. Neville turned to her and wondered what her problem was.

"_Hey_," he whispered to her, "I forgot to mention this earlier but before I apparated back to Herring's Grove I noticed on the map that Snape and Maitland showed up...however, you didn't..."

Nelie stared at him taken aback but quickly she smirked at him.

"_I'm sneaky_," she whispered.

Neville stared at her baffled.

The rest of the meeting seemed to go by extraordinarily slow. Everyone was discussing what bout of action to take next but Neville wasn't listening to any of it. He was instead wondering how much longer the meeting would last because he'd decided the first thing he was going to do upon returning to Hogwarts was go weigh himself in the fitness center.

_"You are right back on track! We're going to show them- all of them what it means to be in control. We are winning...and none of them can stand it!"_

"Oy, you alright mate?"

"Huh?" replied Neville, turning to his cousin Maitland.

"You're spacing out there mate..."

"Yeah 'm fine..."

About twenty minutes later Dumbledore adjourned the meeting and Neville high tailed it out of there only to be caught by the elbow by none other than Francis- who had to run to catch up with him.

"Actually Neville...before we return to Hogwarts I was wondering if we could have a word?"

"I don't have time," snapped Neville.

"It will only be a minute- I promise."

Neville groaned as Francis dragged him to one of the empty studies and sat him down. Francis went to close the door and sighed heavily as he watched his nephew sadly.

"So before we came here Hermione approached me in my office and filled me in on why she was so upset earlier."

Neville sat as his stomach fell to his feet. He could feel himself growing angry. Hermione had betrayed him in the worst way imaginable! He couldn't believe he'd considered her a friend for seven years now! Friends didn't rat their friends out- ever!

After Neville remained silent Francis continued.

"She has informed me that you haven't been eating properly and that this has been going on for quite awhile now and it must stop immediately."

Neville glared at his uncle.

"She's lying!"

"I wish she were but I don't believe she is..."

"Hermione's lying! She's just out to sabotage me!"

Francis stared at his nephew in shock.

"Neville what on earth- listen to yourself. That doesn't make any sense, she is your friend and is only concerned for your well being- everyone is."

"Yeah? Well everyone should start minding their own business!"

"Look," began Francis as he knelt down in front of Neville. "I should have realized sooner- I mean I did but I never really thought to act sooner because I knew how stressed you've been...I noticed that you had been iffy on meals and had been losing weight but I didn't put it together..."

"You don't know what you're talking about," snapped Neville.

"Neville," began his uncle, his dark eyes pleading, "you are disappearing right before our eyes...you need to get a grip and let us help you. Whatever is bothering you and keeping you from eating- we need to address it before the situation gets any worse."

"_I'm fine_," replied Neville angrily, "I just need to be left alone! Why is that concept so hard for any of you to grasp? I can take care of myself..."

"Obviously it's been proven that you can't," retorted his uncle.

"Who are you to say?" snapped Neville, jumping up out of his seat, "what business is it of yours?"

"It is one hundred percent my business..." began Francis softly, "and if you don't get this under control then I'm going to have no choice but to intervene."

"INTERVENE?" shouted Neville, "You make it seem as though I'm a crazy person! There is nothing wrong with me! I'm healthier, stronger, faster and more powerful than I've ever been in my life! And you want to take that all away from me?"

Francis looked down at the floor and shook his head sadly. He stood up and grabbed his nephew by his shoulders and gently began to shake him.

"Neville _listen_ to yourself! This isn't you talking right now! Can't you see that? And if you think you are healthier, stronger, faster and more powerful than you have ever been you are severely mistaken. You're weaker and will only continue to grow more so if you don't _stop_."

"Stop what?" asked Neville dumbly.

"Starving yourself."

"I am _not_ starving myself! I eat!"

Suddenly the door opened and Remus stuck his head inside.

"Everything alright in here?"

"Yes Remus," sighed Francis, "I'll be out in a moment."

Remus nodded and shut the door behind him.

"Look..." began Francis sternly, "it is getting late- you need to get back. However, we will continue this conversation tomorrow over breakfast in my office."

Neville crossed his arms over his chest and made his way to the door. He opened it and turned back to Francis with a hateful glare.

"I'm sorry to inform you that I won't be there."

And with that he was gone.

_"This isn't good! People are catching on! We can't let them win! We can't let them take me away from you! You can not allow this to happen! We are so close!"_

Neville stripped off all of his clothes and stepped on the scale, he adjusted the weights until it stopped at one hundred and forty pounds. That was a five pound difference from the last time he'd weighed himself, he beamed happily. That was a twenty pound difference altogether!

He threw his clothes back on and ran all the way to the Astronomy tower where Ginny had told him earlier she'd be waiting for him. He ran all the way up the steps and picked her up, whisking her around until she begged him to put her down.

"Wow Neville," she began, "you're in a fantastic mood all of a sudden."

"Well I'm here with you aren't I? What could be better?"

Ginny smiled and grabbed his hand.

"I'm so glad we finally have a moment to ourselves," she replied, grinning wickedly.

She reached up and pulled him down into a long, passionate kiss which unfortunately- was interrupted by another couple who had been hoping for a spot.

"Oy, sorry didn't see you there," replied a boy neither Neville or Ginny knew.

He and the girl he was with quickly descended down the steps and ran back inside.

Ginny and Neville exchanged puzzled looks and laughed.

"So...now that you're back...I was hoping you'd come with to visit my family next weekend. You up to it?"

"I told you already Ginny- of course."

Ginny squealed and threw her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.

"I'm so excited! Mum's going to have a fit of joy when I write her!"

Neville smiled and cupped her face in his hands.

Suddenly Ginny's face fell and she became more serious. She sat down and pulled him down next to her.

"I've been meaning to talk to you..." she began.

"About what?"

Ginny sighed.

"I'm worried about you Neville," she began timidly, "I mean...you've come back skinnier than you were when you left. What's going on?"

Neville groaned- it was déjà vu as he'd already had this conversation with Hermione earlier and with Francis just moments ago, it was getting very tiring.

"Ginny...I was out in the forest walking for miles and running from Death Eaters...what do you expect? I'm fine- just a little tired but I'm back now and things will start to settle down."

"Promise?"

"You'll see," he smiled at her, "c'mon let's get you inside to bed...it's getting late."

Ginny gave him a small smile and allowed for him to lead her inside.

Neville woke up and stretched- it must have been early because the lights in the dorm room were still off and he could hear Ron's snoring. He looked down at his pocket watch, it was almost five in the morning. He slowly got up, grabbed his clothes- along with the key and jumped in the shower.

When he got out he dried off and examined himself in the mirror.

_"Still much too fat...still disgusting by all means...still pathetic but if you stick with me you'll be thin in no time! Don't give up- don't give in!"_

Neville threw his uniform on, stuck the key in his pocket and headed down to the common room. Rather than turn on any lights he sat alone in the dark- thinking.

So much had happened in the past couple of days that he hadn't really had time to process any of it. He knew if he tried to take it all in at once that it would only overwhelm him and make his head spin.

"Neville?"

He looked up to see Harry coming down the stairs- still in his pajamas.

"Oh...sorry did I wake you?"

"No...I wasn't asleep...couldn't sleep."

"So what's up?" asked Neville.

"Nothing really...it's just- I-I...haven't slept all night."

Neville watched the raven haired boy with concern.

"Why?" he asked.

"I...had a nightmare," replied Harry, sitting down next to Neville. "Maybe not even a nightmare...more like a-a vision."

Neville waited for him to continue.

"Voldemort was yelling at a man...what was his name...Althalos- and he was livid beyond anything I've ever witnessed...his eyes were glowing red and he was firing off curses left and right, killing anyone in his path...only it was weird- it wasn't as if I were just seeing it...it was like I could hear them, as though I were right there with them..."

Neville gasped as he realized the same had happened to him with his vision of Voldemort and Althalos. Their occurances were too close together to have been a coincidence.

"I had the same thing happen to me Harry," replied Neville softly.

"Should we tell Dumbledore?" asked Harry.

"I dunno," replied Neville.

"I suppose things are about to get very real here pretty soon..." said Harry.

"Harry...we should get the D.A. together again...they'd really come in handy," suggested Neville.

Harry thought for a moment.

"That's a great idea Neville but where would we have meetings? The Room of Requirement has been closed off."

"What?" asked Neville.

"Yeah- while you were gone Dumbledore forbade any students from entering because...well, he claimed that it could be easily accessible by Death Eaters and that we had to close it off."

Suddenly Neville remembered the den that his grandparent's cellar had led to.

"I've got a place in mind..."

It was now lunch time and Neville had managed to sneak away to go tend to his garden- which fortunately Luna had agreed to take care of while he was gone. He had still been angry with his uncle- who had literally pulled him away from Ginny and forced him into his office to make sure he ate breakfast. Neville had scarfed it all down in under five minutes and they sat in silence the entire time. His uncle only sat and watched his nephew sadly.

As soon as Neville finished he got up and left- without so much as a goodbye- and made his way to the nearest washroom to get rid of his breakfast. This time he made sure to sneak out of class early just to avoid Francis' attempt to grab him and drag him to his office for lunch.

As he was on his way to his garden he was approached by someone else he had no interest in seeing- Hermione. She ran up to him and he quickened his pace and she had to jog just to keep up. She tried talking to him but he ignored her.

"Neville! Talk to me!"

"I have nothing to say to you Hermione."

"Please- just listen to me for a second!"

Suddenly Neville stopped abruptly causing Hermione to run into him.

"And why should I do that?" he asked coldly.

"_I'm sorry_," she replied out of breath, "but please- just let me explain-"

"Explain what? How you betrayed me and stabbed me in the back?"

"What? How have I- I have not betrayed you!"

"Telling my uncle and Merlin knows how many other people lies about me isn't betrayal?"

"Neville...I had to tell somebody...you aren't taking care of yourself. And you haven't been listening to me so I figured maybe if your family knew you'd listen to them..."

"Just leave me alone," he snapped.

"Neville, I'm your friend! Let me help you."

"_You_-" began Neville venomously, "are _no friend _of mine!"

Hermione stopped and stared at him, her mouth open and her eyes on the verge of tears.

"_You don't mean that_..." she whispered.

Neville ignored her and continued walking, he could hear her sobs and footsteps going in the opposite direction but he didn't care. She had invaded his privacy in the worst way imaginable and she needed to pay the price.

When he walked inside of the greenhouse he was greeted by Luna Lovegood who smiled up at him- she had on a large pair of goggles and was observing his plants.

"They are quite beautiful you know...strangely so."

"Hello Luna," he replied. "Thanks for taking care of my garden for me."

"It was no problem," she replied dreamily, "it has actually taught me a lot about myself..."

Neville had always known Luna was a bit dotty but something about her was so refreshing and soothing- she reeked of innocence and had a childlike quality about her.

He smiled and sat down beside her.

"How have you been Luna?"

"Oh I have been alright...just on the look out for new stories I can include in The Quibbler."

Neville felt a slight pang of guilt that he'd allowed himself to grow distant from Luna over the past couple of years, she had always been a true friend to him.

"Say Luna- how would you feel about getting the D.A. back together?"

"Oh I would much love that Neville Longbottom...I loved being part of Dumbledore's Army."

"I'm thinking of maybe putting together a couple of fliers and posting them up in the common rooms of each house. "

"I would love to make fliers for you..."

"That'd be great."

Luna smiled at Neville and began to run her fingers over his plants.

"Your plants have missed you," she began without looking up. "They were mourning you."

"What? Really?"

"Oh yes," replied Luna matter of factly, "and you are hurting right now."

"Huh?" replied Neville as he stared at her baffled.

Suddenly she looked up, her large, icy blue eyes locked on his.

"You are suffering from some sort of pain...you are hurting."

"Luna what on earth-"

"I can see it in your eyes," she replied, "and your plants can sense it...that is why they are not bright and flourishing with your arrival."

Neville stared at her, his mouth agape.

"I...no that's nonsense..."

"It is alright Neville. You do not have to explain...we all have secrets and we should all be entitled to them...but your plants know. They are not just plants you know? They are a living, breathing entity that can feel what you are feeling...and right now they are hurting."

Neville remained silent while Luna rambled on about all and sundries.

"I have missed having a friend," replied Luna quietly. "This is nice."

"I'll always be your friend Luna. I...I'm sorry I've been a bit busy lately but I promise we'll talk more often. Alright?"

"I would love that."

Neville gave her a quick hug.

"How about we meet up tomorrow after lunch and we can put up those fliers?"

"Yes," she replied cheerfully.

"Let's get out of here."

The rest of the day dragged on more slowly than Neville could tolerate, classes were a bore, he fell asleep during Advanced Charms and skipped Advanced Potions to meet up with Ginny for a much overdue snog-fest and then went up to the dorms to take a nap. He realized that he really couldn't afford to slack off but the last few days had absolutely drained him.

Dinner came and went and Neville had successfully avoided it by making a visit to the fitness center- where unfortunately even after all the exercise he had done he hadn't lost any more weight. He was now relaxing in the common room alone going over the day's events.

Neville felt guilty about the way he acted toward Hermione earlier but had no idea of how to approach her so he opted just to avoid her at all costs. However, that didn't quite matter because after about an hour he was confronted by a very angry red head.

Neville was taken away from his thoughts by the sound of the Fat Lady screeching and cursing under her breath as her portrait slammed shut. Neville turned around to see Ron storming into the common room- his face as red as his hair- and at that particular moment if looks could kill...Neville would have been dead quicker than the time it would have taken for Voldemort himself to pull out his wand and utter "Avada Kedavra!"

"Who and the hell do you think you are?"

Before Neville even had time to utter a reply Ron cut him off and stormed up to him.

"What has Hermione ever done to you? All she's doing is looking out for you- what gives you the right to be so nasty to her? She's been crying all day because of you! What have you got to say for yourself?"

"I-I'm sorry...I didn't mean to be so awful but-"

"But what!"

"I just...she's been getting on me a lot lately and I just need to be left alone...so I lost my temper a bit."

"Lost your temper? Since when have _you _ever lost your temper? I've known you for seven years and I've never seen you get mad at anybody...what's wrong with you?"

"Dunno," muttered Neville.

"Look...Hermione can get a bit...invasive and aggravating at times but she only does it for somebody else's best interest- she means well...and she's just worried about you."

"I know. I feel awful."

"Hermione's my girlfriend," began Ron, "and when she told me _you _were the cause of her distress I couldn't believe it- in fact, I refused to believe it...but if you _ever_ say or do anything to hurt her in the future...you're going to have a fist in your face, sorry mate."

Neville nodded. He had deserved everything that was coming to him- in fact, he was glad Ron was threatening him because it meant he truly cared for Hermione. He was very strongly reminded of how he had threatened Dean when he was being disrespectful to Ginny- only now he was the one in Dean's position.

"I understand...I deserve it."

"And if you _ever _were to hurt Ginny..."

"I know- I know...but you know I would never hurt Ginny."

"Good. Because you wouldn't just have me pummeling you...you'd have my five brothers too."

Neville nodded.

Ron plopped down next to Neville and sighed.

"Sorry 'bout that mate...little bit of overload I imagine...let my emotions get the better of me. So we good?" he asked, sticking out a hand.

Neville couldn't help but smile as he took his hand. Ron was a bit bland most of the time but he had _some_ spark in him and had told Neville off and for that Neville couldn't help but respect him a little more.

"So what's new?" asked Ron.

"Just bored."

"Me too."

"Ron...how would you feel about getting the D.A. back together?"

"I'm in."

Neville and Ron sat and talked for a little while longer until they were joined by Hermione, who stood back and refused to look Neville in the eye.

Neville stood up and approached her.

"Hermione- I'm sorry...I-I was a jerk. I had no right to say what I said to you...can you ever forgive me?"

"I'll have to think about it..." she replied quietly.

"Don't worry 'Mione," began Ron, through a mouthful of chocolates, "I already threatened to pound his face in if he ever hurt you again."

Hermione giggled and Neville and Ron both stared at her in bewilderment as her cheeks grew pink, the two boys eyed each other. Neville didn't think he had ever heard so much as a giggle come out of Hermione since the day he had met her.

She cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Well I'm off to bed..."

She kissed Ron on the cheek and ran up to the girls' dorms.

"Harry and I are going to visit Fred and George at Sirius' place for a bit. Want to come?"

"No thanks," replied Neville.

"Alright then, later mate."

Neville had decided to pay a visit to his uncle. He had treated him rather badly as well and figured he was on a roll with the apologies. He knocked on his door.

"Come in."

Neville opened the door and walked in, closing it behind him.

"Neville...what a surprise. Come- sit down."

"I- can't stay long..." he began sheepishly as he sat down. "I just...wanted to come and give you a much deserved apology. I've been awful lately to a lot of people and it's not right. I hope you can accept my apology."

"Of course Neville," his uncle smiled kindly. "I'm glad to see you...and my door is always open."

"Thanks..."

"I actually should apologize as well..." began Francis.

"Why?"

"Well- I realize I probably came on quite strong at Sirius' after the meeting...I just...I was worried and didn't know how to approach the situation. I'm still worried about you...you do not look well Neville."

"Let's just forget it and move on," replied Neville.

His uncle frowned.

"Neville..."

"Francis, I'm fine!" replied Neville with his biggest, fake smile. "Honestly, if people spent any more time worrying about me I wouldn't have any time to worry about myself."

Francis sighed.

"Did you eat anything today?"

"I ate breakfast with you remember?"

"Alright...so how about after that?"

"I ate a sandwich," Neville lied.

"Look...these past months you have become like a son to me...and I'm going to be honest, if this problem isn't resolved soon then I'm going to have to resort to higher measures..."

"_What problem_?" questioned Neville. "I don't have a problem!"

"I'll speak to your gran if I have to."

"Why are you doing this to me? I-I just came in to apologize and now you're threatening me?"

"_Yes_- I am."

"Why is everyone against me?" screamed Neville, standing up.

"_No one_ here is against you Neville...the only thing against you here is whatever is going on inside of that head of yours..."

"I'm fine...I'm just so stressed and overwhelmed right now- any time I try to eat I just...my stomach acts up and I just can't...I can't help it- it's not my fault! You try dealing with all I have to and see how your appetite holds up!"

Francis crossed his arms over his chest and watched the boy closely. Neville certainly talked a good game. Neville sat back down and stared at his shoes. Silence.

"I'm only looking out for your best interest," Francis finally replied.

"_Yeah_," muttered Neville sarcastically, "_seems everyone is_..."

"You are such a lost soul..." began Francis sadly, "much like I once was- but you want to know the difference between you and I? I allowed myself to be swallowed up by the abyss and led into darkness...I became dark- evil, I didn't care about anyone other than myself...and you aren't like that- you don't have a bad or evil bone in your body. You are intelligent, brave, honest and caring, you possess all of the qualities of a true Gryffindor and have the potential to become an exceptional wizard...only something is holding you back..."

Neville looked up at his uncle.

"_Don't_ let that same abyss swallow you Neville..."

They sat in silence and then without a word Neville stood up and left.

Neville was on his way back to the Gryffindor house when he heard footsteps following him.

He turned around to see that no one was there. He turned around and continued walking when he heard them again. He gripped his wand in his pocket, threatening to pull it out.

Suddenly he whipped around.

"Who's there?"

When he turned back around he nearly jumped out of his skin as someone was standing not even an inch from his face. It was Nelie.

"BOLLOCKS NELIE!" screamed Neville, "nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Her laughter echoed and bounced down the empty corridor and Neville suddenly felt goosebumps rise over his entire body.

"So...what's up?" she asked.

"Nothing..." replied Neville. "Where's Maitland?"

She shrugged and replied,

"Around."

He couldn't explain why but he felt incredibly uncomfortable- it felt as though the corridor was closing in on them and as though they were being watched. He observed his cousin and something had been very different about her but it took him a minute to realize what that was.

"_What's the matter_?" she whispered, "cat got your tongue?"

Neville stared at her hard, he finally figured out what was different. Nelie's usually well-kept hair had been sticking up on all ends, also it looked as though it hadn't been washed, which was unusual because Nelie was obsessed with personal hygiene. Her eyes seemed darker- as though there was no life behind them- and simply just a hollow place for them to settle. It unnerved him to no end and he decided he had to leave.

"I've got to go..." he mumbled, "see you later."

As he tried to walk past her she grabbed his arm- her iron grip in danger of breaking bones- and held him in place.

Suddenly she smiled wickedly.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Nelie- what the-"

"_Give me the key_..." she hissed.

"What? No!"

"I'm not leaving here without that key!"

"Wha- is this some kind of sick joke because if it is then it's not funny!"

"Oh this isn't a joke..." she replied, her grin growing wider. "It's simple really...you give me the key and I leave here unnoticed...no complications...no fight...I'll be gone just like that."

"How could you?" began Neville, "W-what about your dad and Maitland? What about everything you've promised to the Order? How could you betray me like this?"

"Guess it just goes to show- be careful who you trust..."

"What are Francis and your brother are in on this too?"

"They are cowards...too fucking spineless to do anything...I have to do everything for this family it seems..."

Neville's heart sank. He couldn't believe he had been betrayed by his own cousin- his own blood! He felt his entire world crumbling beneath him.

"_You know what_..." began Neville venomously, "I wouldn't give you this key if _my life _depended on it...you'll have to pry it out of my _dead_..._cold_..._fingers_!"

Suddenly Nelie's face fell and contorted with anger.

"ACCIO KEY!"

Neville gripped the key tightly and pulled out his wand with his free hand.

"STUPEFY!"

Nelie easily dodged his attack and laughed cruelly.

"Do you really think juvenile, first year tactics will stop me?"

"CONFUNDUS!"

Nelie dodged that one and shot one back at Neville.

"IMPERIO!"

Nelie had hit him- and now he was completely under her control.

"_Now_..." she began softly, coming closer to him until their noses were almost touching, "_give me the key_!"

**Author's Note: **Dun-Dun-Dun! Don't you just love cliffhangers? :)

Thank you all so much for your awesome reviews of my previous chapter! It feels so good to be back after such a long, long, long, long, long, long, long (you get the picture) break! It seems I've gotten back into the swing of things as I finished up this chapter a week or so after chapter 26...so again, the story is getting darker and will only get darker still and I want to hear from you all! How is the story progressing? What are your questions, thoughts, concerns- theories? Please give me feedback! It's what keeps me going. I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys have to say- good or bad! Chapter 28 to follow! :)


	29. Apologies

**Chapter 28: **Apologies

Neville was frozen in a state of absolute bliss, the corridors no longer appeared to be closing in on them and in fact, he now felt strangely at ease- as though every ounce of stress, every nagging worry and any thoughts of fear or failure he had ever experienced in his short lived life had simply evaporated. The feeling was sensational, he couldn't quite muster the right words to describe it, but he felt free- as though he had entered another realm of life.

"Oh dear..." began Nelie cruelly, "it seems as though you've lost your will to fight..."

Out of nowhere his ultimate feeling of nirvana slipped away and the weightlessness subsided as he now found he wanted to shout every obscenity in the book at her but his jaw was clenched shut, he had lost control of every single bodily function. He was under her complete control.

"This should be fun..." she muttered, as she began to walk around him in circles observing him.

"Oh the possibilities," she continued darkly, "a quick slit to that old bag Dumbledore's throat...or even better! Bashing Harry Potter's head to a bloody pulp...all at the hand of Neville Longbottom, presumed to be so innocent and liked by all...but what no one seemed to know was that he had a dark side..."

_"NO!" _his mind shouted.

Neville could feel himself falling back into the effects of the curse- a serene, peaceful state of mind but he couldn't allow it, he couldn't allow for her to control him.

Neville's head was spinning and his mind was screaming but he could only stand by helplessly and watch as Nelie contemplated what his fate would be.

"I'll finally get the praise I deserve," she trailed off, "I've lived my whole life in the shadows of my father...but now it is _I_ who have captured Neville Longbottom...it is _I_ who will retrieve the key and present it to our Dark Lord...isn't it wonderful? It seems that even twisted fairy tales can have their happy endings..."

Her eyes burned through him menacingly as she closed in on him.

"Now...what to do with you first?"

Simply standing frozen, having no idea what she was about to do to him or force him to do was more torturous than anything else she could do to him physically- after all, he had already endured the cruciatus curse during his fifth year and knew what to expect.

Neville tried to focus his mind on anything other than what was happening, he couldn't allow for his mind to become locked as his body had- he had to try and fight this.

"I must admit...your efforts during the duration of this journey have been valiant and admirable...but you will not prosper, unless you join us..."

Neville focused so hard that tears began to spill out of his open eyes- he decided to focus on the failures he had endured during his life and suddenly, a rush of awful memories flooded his mind- replaying at lightning speed and what followed where his triumphs, until finally he saw Ginny's smiling face and that was what gave him the strength to fight.

He was making progress as he had now regained the ability to blink, he squeezed his eyes shut and carefully began to will away Nelie's curse.

When he opened his eyes Nelie had been staring at him in horror and he knew he mustn't miss this window of opportunity- he knew he could overpower her.

"GLACIO CORPUS!" he bellowed.

A jet of blinding white light emitted from his wand and she jumped out of the way just in time.

"You're going to have to try harder than that to defeat me!"

"TORPEO!"

Once again she dodged the attack and fired one back at him which he easily discarded.

"Ah- I see you've gotten your bark back...but can you bite?" hissed Nelie with laughter.

"SOMNUS PROFUNDUS!"

Nelie was just simply too quick and continually dodged all of his attempted attacks, although he was right on her heel- just as quickly dodging her counter attacks.

He estimated that they had been dueling for at least twenty minutes. He was careful in his selection of attacks as he didn't want to harm her in any way but rather incapacitate her. No matter if she was evil she was still his family.

He realized that his best advantage was to distract her somehow and an idea came to him immediately- he realized how incredibly stupid this would be and if he were not to succeed the entire wizarding world would be shamed by him and it would simply be another notch of failure to add to his belt- but he was tired of failing- failure was no longer an option.

"If this is what you want then take it! Just leave and never come back!" And with that said, Neville pulled the key from his pocket and threw it across the corridor- Nelie looked up and watched as the key was about to fall into her ready hands.

"NEVILLE NO!"

He turned and saw Francis running toward them.

"Dad! Neville's gone insane! He's trying to kill me!"

Neville whipped back around toward Nelie and pointed his wand.

"TERGIVERSATIO ICTUS!" he bellowed, and watched as the spell hit her unsuspecting body with such force that she flew back and connected to the opposite stone wall with a sickening thud and was immediately knocked out cold.

Neville calmly walked over to where the key had landed, picked it up and placed it back in his pocket as Francis ran past him and knelt down next to his daughter's unconscious body.

"Neville what have you done!" shouted Francis.

"It's not what it looks like!" began Neville, "S-she threatened me! She put me under the imperius curse and tried to get me to give her the key! I had to stop her!"

"What would Cornelia want with the key?"

"I don't know!" shouted Neville. "But she's had her eye on it since we went out looking for it!"

"I should have known..." mumbled Francis as his eyes scoped over Neville darkly, "I should have known that letting them come here was a bad idea..."

"What are you talking about?" screamed Neville.

"Neville...you are in grave danger."

"Really? YOU THINK?" he screamed, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"You need to leave Hogwarts..._now_- they know you are here."

"WHO KNOWS I'M HERE?"

Neville watched as Francis scooped up his daughter and draped her over his shoulder.

"SHE'S EVIL! SHE'S NOT ON MY SIDE...DON'T YOU SEE THAT? ARE YOU EVEN ON MY SIDE?"

"Cornelia is not evil, Neville..."

"YOU DIDN'T SEE WHAT JUST HAPPENED! I DON'T KNOW WHO I CAN TRUST ANYMORE!"

"Neville...calm down-"

"NO! YOU GO THROUGH WHAT I'VE GONE THROUGH THIS YEAR AND TRY CALMING THE FUCK DOWN! I WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON!"

"I am going to take Cornelia to the hospital wing...you need to go pack a bag and leave immediately."

"Tell me, where exactly am I supposed to go?" he snapped.

"The burrow- there is an anti-location charm surrounding it- you won't be able to be traced there- Charlie will be out past the gates waiting for you. Now go- hurry!"

Neville bolted to the dorm and began aimlessly throwing things into his knapsack. He ran out past the astronomy tower to the gates where sure enough Charlie was waiting for him.

"'Lo Neville- you ready?" greeted Charlie.

They apparated and a moment later Neville found himself standing in front of Ginny's home where he would soon be face to face with her parents and this was not how he'd imagined he would be introduced to them.

"You'll be safe here Neville," Charlie assured him. "At least until we get everything sorted out...somehow it has been discovered by the Death Eaters that you have the key...which means that Voldemort knows. They are going to be on the attack until they find you."

Neville's heart began to pound furiously against his rib cage.

"C'mon," beckoned Charlie, leading the younger boy up the walk. "Mum and dad are inside waiting for you."

As they walked Neville stared up in awe at the place- it looked old and rickety, as though a single gust of wind could knock it all down. The burrow was tall but very narrow and Neville had never seen anything like this before in his life and was oddly fascinated at how a place that seemed so small and cramped could have possibly housed nine people at one time.

Charlie observed the boy and gave a sheepish grin.

"As old and unsightly looking as the burrow may be to strangers it's held up quite nicely..."

"I think it's really cool," replied Neville, still staring up. He counted multiple chimney's sprouting from the top.

"Glad you think so," answered Charlie with a grin as he opened the door to let Neville inside.

The moment Neville stepped inside he heard the scuffling of feet and a woman who he presumed was Ginny's mother hurried over to him and enveloped him in a massive hug.

When she finally released him she stepped back to observe him, with a hand cupped against his cheek she smiled kindly.

"Neville! Welcome to the burrow- Arthur and I are so happy to have you as our guest. We've been anxious to meet you."

Mrs. Weasley was short and pleasantly plump. She had a round, motherly face and the same bright red hair as the rest of the Weasley's but her eyes were the same beautiful shade as Ginny's.

"It's very nice to meet you Mrs. Weasley."

"Oh please, call me Molly. Arthur is out at the moment but he should be returning soon enough..."

Neville followed Molly's gaze to a clock that rather than numbers had the status of every member of the Weasley family. Arthur's hand was pointing at work, Molly and Charlie's at home, Ron and Ginny's at school, Fred, George, Percy and Bill's were all pointed at traveling.

"Hello Mother," greeted Charlie.

"Oh Charlie! How are you darling?"

"Just fine...working as usual."

Molly swept her second eldest son up in her arms- even though she only came up just below his chest- and planted kisses all over his face.

"Oh mum," replied Charlie with a chuckle. "I hope you enjoy your stay here Neville, the burrow holds so many wonderful memories and is always open for more. Any who I'm off- love you mum."

"I love you too dear."

Molly gave her son one last squeeze and kiss and let him go.

"Be careful Charlie- and don't forget to check in!"

Charlie winked and with a soft pop was gone.

"How have you been dear? I can't imagine you are doing too well with everything that has been going on."

"I'm managing..." replied Neville quietly with a small grin.

Her eyes sparkled and she gave him another small squeeze.

"Such a handsome face," she began, "you look so much like your mother."

"Thanks," he mumbled shyly.

"You will be safe here with us and you are welcome anytime dear."

"Thank you Mrs. Weasley…"

Neville had never felt so warmly accepted by anyone in his entire life. He had only just met Mrs. Weasley and he had already taken an immediate liking to her.

She led Neville into the kitchen and sat down across from him.

"So Ginny tells Arthur and I that you two are dating?"

Neville blushed and began to stammer.

"Errr...well- y-you see...uhh..."

"Oh it's alright dear…no need to be shy around me. I'm not here to question your relationship with my daughter. I've heard nothing but good things about you. I know you're a good boy."

Neville gave her a tiny smile.

"Ginny had been talking about you so much Arthur and I finally decided well it's about time we meet this Neville and here you are."

"Thank you for letting me stay here."

"Oh it's our pleasure dear. I only wish we had a bigger house, it sometimes gets crowded…"

"I think your house is lovely," replied Neville.

And he really meant it. The burrow- while undoubtedly small, was a very warm and happy home. There were guests constantly coming and going and with so many people in one place you always had someone talk to- most importantly though, Neville noted was that the Weasley residence was just brimming with laughter and something that he had never experienced in his own home, acceptance and unconditional love.

Neville felt at ease here, he felt safe. All it took was one look from and any doubts or feelings of insecurity melted away.

For the first time in his life Neville began to feel that maybe he was worthy enough to be loved. Neville didn't think he knew anyone who was as open and affectionate as Mrs. Weasley and the fact that she didn't plaster a fake smile on her face and stiffly stick out a hand when introduced to him like most people did made him feel happy. The sparkle in her eyes and the way they lit up when he arrived at the burrow and the way she took him into her arms as if he were one of her own, that had all been a genuine reaction.

Although Neville didn't doubt that she's heard stories about the _'Clumsy, forgetful and dim-witted Longbottom boy in Harry and Ron's year,' _Mrs. Weasley didn't look at him or treat him as if he were that person.

"So from what Ginny tells me you are interested in Herbology?"

"Yes ma'am. I quite enjoy it."

"Wonderful! Maybe you can help me out with our garden- give me a few pointers," she replied with a wink.

"Of course."

Suddenly Arthur walked into the kitchen. He took his hat off and flung it into the sitting room.

"Hello dear," he replied, leaning down to kiss his wife on the cheek.

Mr. Weasley turned to Neville and stuck his hand out.

"Ah you must be Neville! Pleasure to finally meet you lad! Ginny has told us so much about you."

Neville blushed again and took Mr. Weasley's hand.

"Pleasure to meet you too Mr. Weasley."

"Arthur," he corrected kindly.

Neville nodded. Arthur Weasley was very tall with a thin build, his hair wasn't as vibrant a red as the others and was thinning on top, also he appeared more aged than his wife but he had a very friendly face.

"So where is everyone?" asked Mr. Weasley suddenly realizing that other than Mrs. Weasley and Neville the house was empty and silent.

"Well Charlie just left and Percy, Fred and George are supposed to stop by later...I just wanted to chat with Neville here and get to know him a little better- after all, he is dating our daughter."

Neville's blush deepened.

"Ginny just thinks the world of you," began Arthur taking a seat next to his wife. "She's never been happier."

"It's true," beamed Molly. "You've been doing her good. Her attitude seems to have bounced back into check and she's beginning to learn that she doesn't need to be loud and obnoxious to be noticed…but then again, being the baby of the family and the only girl I'm surprised she's not any more rambunctious."

Neville grinned.

"Oh how rude of me!" began Molly jumping out of her seat and hurrying over to the counter. "I haven't even offered you anything. Would you like anything to drink dear? Tea? Are you hungry…well of course you are!"

"Oh no…I'm fine Mrs. Weasley. Thank you though."

"Now you just make yourself at home, you hear?" replied Mrs. Weasley as she set cups in front of Neville and Mr. Weasley.

She poured them some tea and then walked back toward the cupboards and began rummaging through them.

"Did you say you were hungry dear?"

"Oh no…I'm fine- really."

"Nonsense! You probably haven't had a thing to eat all day you poor thing…you look absolutely famished."

"I uh ate before I arrived…but thank you."

"Alright just as long as you have some room for breakfast in the morning."

"Oh of course…" replied Neville forcing a smile.

'_She is only going to make you fat!' _

Neville pushed the voice aside but failed to push away the thought of having to actually sit down and eat with the Weasley's. There were so many of them that it would be impossible for him to get away with not eating or sneaking off somewhere afterward.

He suddenly began to feel panicky. He'd think of something.

"Are you sure you don't want something to snack on? We've got peanuts...oh! I just found a leftover piece of Charlie's birthday cake."

"No thank you."

She walked back over to the table and placed a hand gently on the back of his neck.

"Tell us more about yourself dear."

"Uh...what would you like to know?"

"What are some of your hobbies and interests?" asked Molly.

"Well as you know I really enjoy herbology...I um love to read and I joined the quidditch team this year."

"How delightful!"

Arthur cleared his throat and his eyes grew dark as he turned them on Neville.

"How was your journey?"

"It uh...went better than expected actually. I um, ended up finding the key a lot sooner than anyone would have thought, ran into a few Death Eaters along the way..."

"Charlie told us that you encountered Death Eaters...Ginny wrote us also and said that you handled them quite well, yeah?"

Neville blushed.

"My uncle taught me well."

"You remind me so much of your father," began Arthur as he placed a hand on Neville's shoulder, "brave, selfless and willing to fight for what you believe in."

"I-I'm just fulfilling my duty sir...I want to help restore the wizarding world back to where it should be, to where no one has to live in fear anymore, to where we don't have to hide and worry about our families and friends being slaughtered...I'll do whatever it takes."

Arthur and Molly smiled at the boy.

"We're very lucky to have someone like you on our side," began Arthur, "and we'd be even luckier if one day you were to join our family."

Neville's cheeks burned and he quickly looked away.

"But Arthur- he already is...he's been Ron and Harry's friend and housemate since first year."

"You _know_ what I mean dear," answered Arthur.

"Oh right," replied Molly, her eyes twinkling.

"So how exactly did you and our Ginny get together?" asked Molly.

"Uh well...it just sort of happened," began Neville lamely. "I-I'd liked her since we attended the Yule Ball together during my fourth year..."

"Oh that's right!" squealed Molly excitedly, "I remember that she mentioned going with you...she really enjoyed herself that night."

Neville grimaced at the memory of his shy, awkward and clumsy fourteen year old self stepping on Ginny's feet all night and spilling punch on her dress at the end of the night.

"I just...I'm lucky," continued Neville, "I really care for Ginny a lot and no matter how things turn out between us I'm glad to have her in my life. She's a good person and deserves only the best."

Molly watched Neville, her face bright and beaming with joy.

Neville cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Uh would you mind if I look around?"

"Oh go right ahead my boy," chuckled Arthur, "just try not to get lost!"

Neville stood up and began to explore the residence. He started in the sitting room where he had first entered the burrow. It was small yet very cosy and eloquently decorated with fresh flowers and pictures of the family all over the walls. There was a long sofa that could probably seat four or five along with four surrounding arm chairs in front of a fireplace.

Next he ventured into one of the bedrooms nearby which he was amused to discover was Ginny's, due to the bright colors and multiple posters of famous male wizards. She had a small canopy bed with pink sheets, he sat down and wished that she could be here with him now showing him around rather than just wandering around alone.

He leaned back on her pillows which still carried her scent. He closed his eyes and wondered if she even knew that he was gone yet. He sat up and went over to the window and saw that it overlooked an orchard with dozens of tall trees surrounding the yard. He exited her room and made his way up to the second floor.

He next entered into what he believed to have once been Fred and George's room on account of the cluttered mess and multiple beakers lying around amongst concoctions of various potions, also the distinct smell of gunpowder lingered, as he had once remembered Ron mentioning was a nuisance due to all of the experiments they used to try out during all hours of the day and night.

Next he entered Percy's room- and he knew it was Percy's old room because on the door was a sign that read: _Percy's room: Knock before entering. _Ron along with Fred and George had always joked about Percy and his overachieving, self-serving ways and how easy he was to make fun of and his room seemed to illustrate their point. Inside it was very neat and clean with a shelf of books taking up an entire wall while the other held a variety of shiny trophies and ribbons of achievements.

On the third floor was another room which must have once belonged to either Bill or Charlie and finally at the very top of the house was Ron's room, a complete pig sty with the walls covered with Chudley Cannon posters.

Neville made his way back downstairs toward the kitchen where Arthur and Molly were quietly conversing but stopped just before entering to listen.

"That poor child," began Molly, "his eyes look so lost...we must help him Arthur."

"I know dear...Ginny has mentioned that she's worried about him."

"He's had such a hard life as it is and now it must seem as though the entire world is on his shoulders..."

"From what the kids describe though he's a tough son of a gun," began Arthur. "I mean...look at what he's already faced. He's Frank and Alice's son, he seems to have their strong mentality."

"I know," began Molly sadly, "he just looks so broken up...like our Harry he's never had any proper parental guidance...and you know how Augusta is- that woman is _impossible_."

"We'll do the best we can Molly but we need to give him his space. I'm sure once he feels more comfortable here he'll open up to us."

"And he's _so thin_," added Molly.

Neville waited a moment before entering.

He smiled and sat down across from them.

"Your house is very nice," he replied. "I hope I'm not keeping you two up."

"Oh not at all dear," began Molly gently, "we knew you would be arriving so we wanted to be sure to be awake to finally meet you."

"So then- you get first pick of which room you'd like to take," said Arthur.

"Umm I wouldn't mind taking Ron's room if that's alright."

He would have preferred to stay in Ginny's room just to feel closer to her but he figured her parents might find that weird.

"Of course dear," answered Molly. "Arthur, why don't you take Neville's things up for him?"

"Oh no- really you don't have to do that Mr. Weasley I can take them."

"Nonsense you are our guest!"

And with that Arthur grabbed Neville's things and made his way upstairs.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like something to eat before bed? I can whip you up anything you'd like."

Neville smiled. Molly was so kind and it broke his heart a little knowing that while he had a mother, he had never gotten the chance to experience what it was like really having one- to hug him, kiss his forehead, cook for him, send him off to school and greet him when he arrived home and any of the other things a good mother does for her children.

The Weasley children were a lucky bunch.

"I couldn't possibly Mrs. Weasley. I really appreciate you offering though."

Neville chatted a bit longer with Arthur and Molly when Fred, George and Percy walked in.

"Oh my boys! Hello darling!" replied Molly to each of them as she kissed all three of them on both cheeks and forehead.

"Mum!" cried George, "must you always kiss us in front of people?"

"Yeah," chimed Fred, "and why must it be three times?"

"Oh- then would you rather me slap a broom in your hand and have you sweep the chimneys?"

"Hello Mother," greeted Percy. "Father."

"Boys we have a guest," said Molly.

"Oy Neville! How's it going mate?" asked Fred.

"Fine. Yourself?"

"We're good mate. So mum what have you prepared for us this lovely evening?" asked George.

"Oh dear," began Molly. "I got so caught up in cleaning that I didn't make anything."

"But mum we're starving!" groaned Fred.

"Boys," started Arthur sternly, "your mother has been very busy so just give it a rest."

"Percy have you met Neville?" asked Molly.

Percy gave him a half smile and stuck out his hand.

"Nice to see you again Neville. How are you?" asked Percy.

"Fine, thanks."

"Mum can Fred and I start up the fire pit?"

"Oh it's rather late for that..."

"Please? We won't stay out too late..."

"Oh alright," agreed Molly. "But just make sure you boys don't make too much racket."

"Great! C'mon Neville!"

Neville got up and followed the twins outside out back past the garden.

"Incendio!"

Suddenly a large fire sparked up from a circle of stones.

The boys settled on the grass and immediately the questions began to fly.

"So how's our Ginny?"

"She's good."

"Where'd you find the key?"

"Er-"

"How many Death Eaters did you fight?"

"I-"

"Do you have the key with you?"

"Can we see it?"

"Can we touch it?"

Neville didn't even have time to answer so he just waited patiently until they ran out of questions.

"I uh...well- I don't think it's really a very good idea to discuss some of these things here..."

"Why?" asked Fred, "it's perfectly safe here."

"Yeah," continued George, "the burrow is protected by countless charms. We're nearly undetectable all the way out here."

Neville decided that rather than try to answer all of their questions he'd direct the questions back at them instead.

"So how is your joke shop going?"

"Oh good mate! We've doubled our usual sales in the past month...guess with the war looming near people need a good laugh..." replied Fred.

"So what brings you here mate? Why aren't you at school?" asked George.

"Well," began Neville quietly, "it seems I've been discovered...the Death Eaters know I have the key..."

"Oh shit," replied Fred.

"Yeah...and Nelie's apparently one of them...earlier tonight she put me under the imperius curse and tried to take it."

"Blimey!" began George, "she can't be a Death Eater! I was going to marry her!"

"I don't know what she is," continued Neville quietly, "but she wants the key."

"How come the fit ones always turn out evil?" wondered Fred with disappointment.

"Wait...you say she had you under the imperius curse?" asked George.

Neville nodded.

"How did you get out of it?" asked George.

"Dunno...just willed it away with my mind."

The twins exchanged looks, eyebrows raised.

"You do know how incredibly difficult that is to do...right?" began Fred. "You have to have like...impeccable willpower."

Neville shrugged.

"Any news from the order?" he asked.

"Charlie and Kingsley are headed out to where you had your run in with those two Death Eaters to see if they spot anymore roaming around and Dumbledore sent Tonks undercover with Snape to meet with Lucius Malfoy to see what they are planning."

Neville's heart began to palpitate.

"Things are 'bout to get very ugly pretty soon..." replied George.

"But we're ready," added Fred, cracking his knuckles. "I say bring it on."

Neville wasn't quite as confident as these two but he had no choice in the matter. It wasn't as if he could just hide and come out when this was all over, especially since he was part of the reason this war was starting in the first place- he had in his possession what everyone wanted.

"So...you and Ginny pretty serious then?" asked Fred.

Neville blushed.

"Err...I dunno."

"Oh c'mon mate, we're not here to take the mickey out of you. Just curious is all..." coaxed George.

"I really like her a lot..."

"Such a good chap," teased Fred, slapping Neville on the back, "maybe our Ginny'll bring out the rascal in you yet, yeah?"

Neville smirked.

"Mum absolutely adores you," said George, "even before meeting you tonight all she did was fuss over how much of a gentleman everyone described you as and fawned over pictures Ginny showed her of you and how she's expecting grandchildren...it was rather sickening wasn't it Fred?"

Neville felt his face heat up and he was pretty sure it wasn't from the fire.

"Er...I'm flattered."

"We're just joking mate," added Fred, "we're glad you're dating our little sister. You're loads better than Dean Thomas..."

With Dean's name being mentioned George made a gagging sound.

"Yeah Ginny had him over last summer and he's a right prick," added George.

"Say Neville..." began Fred, "you wouldn't mind being the guinea pig for our latest experiment would you?"

"Errr..."

"No," started George, "remember...we promised Ginny..."

"Oh right," began Fred with disappointment.

"See our last experiment didn't go quite as planned..." began George, "paid a lad a galleon to help us out and somehow it backfired and...well he lost his eyebrows and a small chunk of hair..."

"It was hardly noticeable at all," added Fred. "His mum completely overreacted."

"We're lucky they didn't sue...however, we've learned from our mistake if you'd decide to be a willing participant," said George with a wink.

"You know...it'd just be our little secret- Ginny'd kill us if she knew we let you help us out."

Neville gave them a tiny smile and chuckled nervously. There was no way in hell he'd allow such a thing, he'd throw himself in a pit of baby fire-breathing dragons before subjecting himself to one of their crazy experiments.

"Well...I'm getting rather tired. I think I'm off to bed," replied Neville standing up. "'Night."

Neville made his way back inside the burrow, told Mr. and Mrs. Weasley good night and headed up to bed. As soon as he reached Ron's room he literally collapsed onto the bed and fell into a dreamless sleep.

Neville was awoken to someone gently shaking him.

"Neville? I've made breakfast and wanted to make sure you were just about ready to get up- no need to hurry though dear."

Neville sat up and reached for his glasses.

"Good morning Mrs. Weasley."

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yes thank you," answered Neville.

"Harry is going to be staying here at the burrow as well and he should be here any moment now."

Molly smiled at him and quietly exited the room.

Neville got up, jumped in the shower and went down to the kitchen where Molly, Arthur, Fred, George, Percy and Harry all sat eating breakfast.

"I've set you out a plate dear- have all you want there is plenty for everyone," replied Molly.

Neville smiled and stood awkwardly in the doorway staring at his feet.

"I'm uh actually not really that hungry right now..."

Molly placed her fork down and frowned.

Neville hated seeing the disappointment on her face so he took a seat next to Harry and forced a smile.

"I suppose I could take a few bites..." he reasoned.

Molly's frown immediately turned into a cheeky smile as she began loading his plate with all sorts of food. Cinnamon toast, scrambled eggs, bacon and blueberry pancakes doused in syrup.

He felt nauseous just smelling it all.

"Thank you," he mumbled.

"How's it going Neville?" asked Harry.

"Fine."

"Dumbledore decided it would be a good idea if I stay here as well...you know, since we both sort of go hand in hand with Voldemort's plans."

At the mention of Voldemort everyone fell silent.

Arthur cleared his throat.

"Percy how are things at the Ministry?"

"Chaotic," he replied glumly, "everyone is all in a dizzy due to the Death Eaters' knowledge of Neville having found the key. It's a mad house."

Neville mindlessly pushed his food around on his plate hoping that they would all finish before him so he could dispose of this disgusting stuff without having to actually eat it. He appreciated Molly taking the time to cook such a hearty meal for everyone but that didn't mean he had to stomach the idea of actually digesting it.

"You aren't eating dear."

Neville looked up to Molly's disapproving glance.

"Sorry- just caught up...thinking," he replied.

Molly watched him closely as everyone else carried on with their conversations.

Neville waited for an opportunity to escape but there had been none, he waited and waited and eventually his food was cold. Finally everyone had finished and gone to do other things and Molly had started on the dishes so Neville quickly grabbed an empty bowl and dumped everything from his plate into it and set it on the floor by his feet.

He stood up and handed his now empty plate to Molly.

"Sorry it took me so long to finish," he began with a smile. "I just...haven't had much of an appetite lately. Breakfast was very good. Thank you."

Molly smiled and took his plate.

"You are welcome."

He quietly grabbed the bowl from the floor, exited the kitchen and headed out past the orchard where he flung his uneaten breakfast out into the woods. He returned to the kitchen and helped Molly finish washing the remaining dishes and then decided to see what everyone else was up to. He found Fred, George and Harry degnoming the yard.

"Oy Neville- wan'a shot?" asked Fred.

"No thanks."

"C'mon mate, it's fun," coaxed George, as he flung a gnome- which shot out way past the garden and landed on its bum with a couple of bounces. It turned around and presented the boys with a rather rude gesture. "Silly gnomes," he sighed.

"I heard about what happened last night..." said Harry quietly.

"What?" asked Neville.

"How Nelie put you under the imperius curse...it's amazing that you were able to fight it...if not things could have ended up very badly."

Neville nodded.

"After you left the order had a meeting and Francis was a wreck- didn't say a word the entire time and ran out suddenly before it was even over. I don't know what's going on but something doesn't sit right with me about this whole situation..."

"I don't know who to trust anymore," sighed Neville.

"You can trust us mate!" replied George as he slapped Neville on the back. "Right Fred?"

"Right George!"

"Well since it seems you could use a little good news right about now Ginny is coming to visit," started Harry, "along with Ron and Hermione they should arrive around dinner time."

At this Neville's eyes lit up and his entire demeanor immediately became more optimistic.

"But how- haven't they got-"

"Dumbledore pulled a few strings," answered Harry.

Neville nodded and watched silently as the boys flung more gnomes.

"Are you feeling alright?" asked Harry eying the brunette closely.

"Sure why wouldn't I be?"

"You just seem a bit- _off_..."

"Oh..."

"Yeah but you know Neville- he's always been a bit off," joked Fred as he playfully jabbed Neville in the ribs.

"So as we speak Hermione and Ron are getting the D.A. together again and are attempting to recruit new members," began Harry, "that was a brilliant idea by the way. We need a brigade of students ready for any possible attacks at Hogwarts."

Neville nodded and began to pace around.

"What's the matter?" asked Harry.

"Nothing...just- tired of waiting I guess. I want this all over with."

"Waiting is nothing," began Harry calmly, "waiting is the easy part...once that's over with it's a matter of life or death...if anyone should know that it's me."

Harry did have a point but Neville couldn't help but feel irritated at how calm Harry could remain throughout all of this chaos but then again he was used to it.

"I think I'm going to go for a walk..." replied Neville.

"Alright," answered Harry, "see you."

Neville took off and traveled past the orchard out toward the woods.

He decided that he would apparate to Francis' residence to visit his family, that is if they were still staying there and sure enough they were.

Neville walked inside of his uncle's cottage and immediately he was met with the familiar griping of his gran coming from inside the kitchen.

He entered and there she was along with his great-uncle Algie and great-aunt Enid, all of them sitting at the dinner table sipping on tea and bickering as usual.

"Neville my boy! Good to see you again!" exclaimed Algie who stood up and firmly shook his hand. "We heard about you fighting off those Death Eaters!"

"We're so glad you came out alright," echoed Enid with a kind smile. "It sounds as though you've had your work cut out for you."

"So wonderful to see you all," Neville replied, breathing a sigh of relief.

His gran however, remained silent- her dark eyes looking him up and down, her lips tightly pursed. Neville knew this look very well, it was her infamous look of discontent.

"How are you all?" asked Neville, taking a seat next to his gran.

"We're fairing well as can be," began Algie, "although I'd personally rather be where the action is."

Neville smiled, his family had always been very energetic- always wanting to be where the latest happening was at, he couldn't imagine they liked being cooped up much.

"How are you gran?" he asked optimistically.

"I've been better," she replied dully, still eying him harshly.

Neville sighed.

"What's the matter gran?"

He could only imagine what was wrong, nothing was ever good enough for her.

"I am told that you are currently staying with the Weasley's?"

"That's right..."

His gran clicked her tongue but said nothing.

"So when do we get to meet your little girlfriend?" asked Algie with a grin.

"Er...I don't know."

"Neville darling," began his gran sternly, "do you really see it wise to reside with your..." she paused as if saying the word pained her, "_girlfriend_? You are easily distracted as is from completing regular day to day tasks...do you not think this will cause you to become further off task?"

Neville sighed.

"She's not even there right now gran."

"So you've got the key then eh boy?" asked Algie with intrigue.

Neville nodded.

"Merlin that thing had all but left my memory," he continued, "last I knew of it your parents had it."

"Are you hungry?" asked Enid, "I prepared brunch if you would like some."

"No thank you," declined Neville, "I ate at the Weasley's."

"How can they possibly afford yet another mouth to feed?" his gran remarked rather rudely.

"They seem to manage just fine," replied Neville through clenched teeth.

His gran tsked and turned away.

Neville loved his gran but couldn't stand to be around her when she acted like this- which was a majority of the time. He frowned and almost began to regret coming to visit.

"How did your mid-terms come out?" asked Augusta.

"I don't know yet..."

She sighed.

"I hope they are better than last year's scores," she began doubtfully, "otherwise you are going to find yourself working for a low income wage and settling for a less than worthy lifestyle such as what those Weasley's must endure."

Neville's entire face went red and he snapped.

"_You know what_," he began, his voice steadily rising, "if you didn't lead such a pompous, selfish and materialistic existence maybe you would see that the good in people has nothing to do with how wealthy or successful they are but rather how they treat others! The Weasley's are good people and have been kinder to me in the past day than anyone else in my entire life has ever been!"

Silence.

Algie cleared his throat and stood up.

"C'mon Enid...let's go have a look outside- shall we?"

Enid nodded and followed her husband outside.

Augusta's face immediately fell and her brow set in anger.

"Why you ungrateful- I gave up _my life _to make sure you were raised properly! Does that mean nothing?"

"No you didn't!" shouted Neville standing up and pointing a finger in her face. "You didn't give up anything! You still continued living your life just how you wanted regardless of taking me in! I can name more times that you haven't been there for me when I've needed you than when you were! You are selfish! You were always selfish! All you care about is how you are perceived by others! Well guess what? I don't care that you are a rich, successful pure-blooded witch! I don't care how much you can afford to spend on fancy luxuries! All I care about is you being my grandmother! I want you to tell me that you love me! I want you to take an interest in my life and my hobbies! I want you to focus on what I do right rather than what I continually do wrong! I want you to be proud of me!"

Neville paused and tried to get a hold of himself, he could feel tears threatening to spill out of his eyes but he refused to cry in front of his gran right now, she already viewed him as weak and he didn't want to encourage her further.

"Do you love me gran?"

His gran stared at him, traces of anger still visible on her face.

"ANSWER ME!"

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.

"You are being ridiculous," she replied simply.

"Are you ashamed of me? Do you wish it could be me who is confined to the prison of St. Mungo's rather than my dad?"

Silence.

"Sometimes I wonder if you even have a soul..." began Neville bitterly, "Grandad may have had his moments- his outlandish outbursts that he took out on us but at least I knew he loved me!"

Augusta sat unresponsive.

"SAY SOMETHING!"

"I will not speak to you under such rude and unkindly allegations."

Neville stood and stared at her, his eyes filled with tears.

"You have _no idea _what I have been through these past few months..."

His grandmother remained silent, continually sipping on her tea- her foot rapping against the linoleum floor impatiently as though she had somewhere to be.

When she didn't respond he continued.

"It's been a living hell and I've had to do it all alone...I haven't felt so lost and scared and unsure of myself in my entire life and I just want you to know that this has all made me stronger...maybe it'll help build me into the person that you had always hoped and longed I would be..."

His gran sighed and looked up at him, her brown eyes narrowed.

"Can't you see that I'm hurting right now gran? Do you even care?"

Finally she spoke.

"Of course I care darling..." she began in exasperation, "but how are you to learn anything if you do not deal with these things on your own?"

"So you're saying I should be thrown out to the dogs?"

"No..." began Augusta calmly, her anger subsiding, "what I am saying Neville, is that unfortunately the world can be cruel...times are dark and there isn't always going to be someone there to give you the answers or to save you from trouble...but the one person who will always be able to do such is yourself. You are the only person you can always trust in and rely on...do you understand what I am saying?"

Neville stared at his gran in awe, something she was saying had actually made sense. Her face had softened and her eyes opened up as she watched him closely.

"I am only attempting to prepare you for the world grandson...it isn't always a happy place- and it most certainly isn't a forgiving one."

Neville sighed and sat back down next to his gran.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you..." he began, he now felt incredibly guilty.

"It is quite alright," replied Augusta, "I must say I am actually quite pleased to see you growing a bit of a backbone."

Neville smiled, he grabbed his gran's hand and gave it a squeeze.

Neville spent most of the day catching up with his family. It was now almost 5 o'clock in the evening and he had completely lost track of the time. He imagined the Weasley's must have been worried out of their minds, wondering where in the world he could be.

"Damn!" he cursed to himself, "Gran! I forgot about the Weasley's...they must be worried sick!"

"Send them an owl," she replied.

"I-I can't...it's too dangerous."

Neville was just about to tell his family good bye and apparate back to the burrow when there was a knock on the door.

Everyone froze and waited, none of them making any immediate moves to answer it.

After another minute the knocking continued.

Neville slowly walked out of the kitchen toward the front door and opened it. He was greeted on the other side by Francis.

"Neville! Thank heavens you are alright! Charlie came to inform me hours ago that you hadn't returned to the burrow and that the boys hadn't seen you since after breakfast this morning...we have all been worried sick!"

"Sorry...I was only planning to stop by here for a few minutes just to say hi...lost track of time."

Francis stepped inside and pulled Neville into a tight hug.

The next thing they were met with was the shattering of glass. Neville turned around to see that his gran had emerged from the kitchen, she had dropped her tea cup and she appeared as though she had seen a ghost.

Neville moved out of the way and watched as his gran took in the sight of her son for the first time in years. No one said a word for the longest time.

"Hello mother," began Francis quietly. "Sorry to just drop by unexpectedly but we were worried about Neville."

Augusta opened her mouth to speak but no words escaped.

"Er- I suppose we should get going then- yeah?" replied Neville awkwardly.

But rather than accept Neville's advance to leave Francis stepped toward Augusta.

"Mum..." he began tiredly, "I-I'm so sorry...I've failed you in many ways and never dreamed that we would reconcile but now that I'm standing right here before you I want to make right of what I've done..."

Augusta bent down and calmly began to collect the pieces of her broken tea cup.

"Owl me as soon as you reach the Weasley's dear," she told Neville, ignoring the fact that her own estranged son whom she hadn't seen in years had just spoken to her.

"Mum please," continued Francis, "I don't expect you to forgive me but at least acknowledge that I am here!"

"I can not," she replied sternly.

"Why?"

"You _know _why."

Francis continued to walk toward her until he stood mere inches from her and then he bent down on one knee before her.

"Mum..._please_ accept my apology. I've spent years doing good to try and make up for all the wrong that I have done. I've gone on to become a much better person- someone better than the one you used to know..."

Augusta stared down at her son over her long nose, her eyes narrowed disapprovingly.

"I do not wish to have you in my presence any longer," she replied coldly, seeming to have forgotten that it was in fact Francis' house she was residing in and not her own.

"But mum-"

"Do _not_ call me that...I am not your mother and you are not my son."

Francis stood up and dusted himself off, slowly nodding his head with acceptance.

"I understand," he whispered. "Come Neville- we must be heading back now."

But Neville did not move. He stared at his gran with a mixture of sadness and hate. How could she stand there and deny her own son with such a cold stance as though he were a _'wretched alley rat,'_ as gran referred to people who were less potentially active or successful than her kind. It made Neville furious.

"How can you be so cold?" Neville asked her. "He's fully aware of the damage he has done but he's ready to make amends! Why can't you forget about the past and move on?"

Augusta's lips tightened to a thin line and her brows burrowed.

"Do not speak to me in that tone young man."

"Neville it's alright- really...let's just go," Francis pleaded.

"No- gran you are so impossible at times! Everyone knows it! When you pass on do you want to be remembered as cold and distant? Do you want to be remembered as the bitter, old lady whose heart was so hard that she couldn't even express her love? Is that how you want to be remembered? As someone who no one has kind things to say about? I know that isn't who you are...but that is how you often come off!"

Augusta stared at her grandson, her mouth slightly ajar.

Suddenly Francis began to cry.

"Mum- what happened to the woman you used to be before Frank..." he paused. "What happened to the woman who was strict with us but yet in good taste? The woman who smiled her beautiful smile and lit up an entire room? The woman who gave us hugs and kisses every night and told us she loved us?"

Neville stared at his gran with confusion. This woman Francis spoke of had never been a woman that Neville had known. It baffled him to think that his gran had ever once been as Francis described.

Augusta folded her arms over her chest.

"That _is enough_," she declared.

"I just want you to know that I never stopped loving you," continued Francis through sobs. "I _never stopped_."

And with that Augusta turned around and stalked back into the kitchen without a word.

Francis grabbed Neville by the arm and led him outside where they apparated back to the burrow.

"Excuse me- I just need a moment," replied Francis quietly as he walked off.

As soon as Neville turned around he saw the entire Weasley clan, plus Harry and Hermione outside on the front lawn.

"Neville!" cried Ginny as she ran toward him and flung herself into his arms.

"Hello Ginny..."

"I'm so happy you are alright! You had us all worried to death!"

"Sorry," he replied blushing. "I didn't expect to be gone as long as I was-"

But before he could continue she planted a rather large kiss on him and her lips felt so good against his that he suddenly forgot everything else and allowed himself to get lost in the moment.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and gently allowed for her tongue to enter his mouth as their kiss deepened. The feel of her warm mouth over his and the delicate way her tongue caressed against his made his heart flutter. He never wanted to stop kissing her.

"OY! How about saving all that for later when there isn't a rather underage audience in view!" shouted Fred.

"Yeah- good thing we haven't eaten already or I'd have tossed my food right here in front of everyone!" echoed George.

Neville softly pulled Ginny away and she turned and rolled her eyes at her brothers and stuck out her tongue.

"You are both just jealous because I have someone to kiss!"

Neville turned bright red as it began to set in that everyone was watching their every move.

Neville cleared his throat.

"Now would be a good time to beat me over the head with a shovel and bury me in the garden...I'll be quite happy there," he mumbled to Ginny with grief.

She giggled.

"Oh come on," she whispered back, "it's just my family..."

They cautiously made their way back toward the others, hand in hand.

"Hello everyone..." he began softly, "sorry I had you all so worried...I just went to go visit my family and lost track of time."

"Don't you dare leave again without telling someone!" called Molly as she made her way up to Neville and pulled him into a suffocating hug, "we thought you'd run away or been kidnapped!"

"Oy!" called Ron, "that's my baby sister you were manhandling out there!"

"Oh hush Ronald," hissed Hermione, "he wasn't manhandling her...it was very _passionate_...something you wouldn't know much about..."

"Hey! I know passion!"

"_Yeah_...passion to you is the way you look at mum's homemade meatloaf right before you stuff your face with it!" joked Fred. George snickered and offered his brother a high five.

Ron's face turned as red as his hair and he disappeared into the house.

"Alright- in you all go!" called Molly, ushering everyone back inside, "dinner will be ready in ten minutes."

Neville and Ginny were alone at last.

"I'm so happy to see you," she beamed.

"Me too...so how long will you be staying?" he asked.

"Just for a few nights," she answered.

"How did you get Dumbledore to allow you out of classes?"

"It wasn't all that difficult," she began. "I just offered to make it all up double when I return."

Neville smiled down at her and felt his troubles melt away.

"So...I know the burrow isn't much to look at but this is where I've grown up. It's home."

"I love it here," replied Neville, "and your parents have been very kind."

"So tell me about what happened last night..."

"I-I was walking back to the Gryffindor house when Nelie came out of nowhere...she demanded the key and when I wouldn't give it to her she put me under the imperius curse...but I managed to fight it off..."

"So this entire time she hasn't been on our side?" questioned Ginny.

Neville shrugged.

"'s a shame for Fred and George..." continued Ginny, "they were both already making wedding plans."

"The Death Eaters know I have the key...which means Voldemort knows. I don't know how much longer I can go on hiding Ginny...I almost think I should just face them- I'm tired of being a coward. I'm ready to fight head on."

"You aren't a coward Neville."

They sat in silence for a few minutes and then Neville stood up.

"I'm going to go look for Francis- I need to talk to him. Tell your mum I'll be in in a minute."

Ginny nodded and went inside.

"Where is Neville?"

"Oh he went to look for Francis," replied Ginny, who was setting the table for her mum.

"Does he know that dinner is ready?" asked Molly, getting up and walking toward the back door to look out.

"Yes. He wanted me to tell you that he'd be in in a minute."

"Oh- let him know that Francis is more than welcome to join us," Molly added.

"Mum can I talk to you about something?"

"Well of course dear, what is it?"

"Actually it's more of a favor...please try not to badger Neville during dinner."

Molly stared at her daughter bewildered.

"Why in Merlin's name would I do such a thing?"

"I mean like don't comment on what or how much he eats...he's very sensitive especially when it comes to food. He's very weight conscious."

"Weight conscious?" Molly questioned, raising her eyebrows.

"You know- like watching what he eats and stuff…"

"Why on earth would he need to watch what he eats?"

"I don't know mum- I always tell him he doesn't need to."

"Well I think he is too skinny...that boy needs some more meat on his bones."

"Okay but mum just remember what I told you…he's very sensitive and doesn't take very well to comments."

Mrs. Weasley did not look satisfied.

"_Mum_…_please_?"

"Oh alright dear."

Ginny walked to the door to watch for Neville while Mrs. Weasley walked out of the kitchen.

"DINNER TIME!" she called.

Neville found Francis not far from where they had apparated from and approached him slowly.

"Are you alright?" asked Neville.

"Oh yes," he replied turning to give Neville a small smile.

"Don't mind gran," he began, "that's just her nature...it may not have always been but it is now and I've learned to accept it. Just give her time."

"I would not have expected anything less from her."

They stood in silence.

"Neville we need to talk about what happened last night..."

"Why? Do you know something that I don't?"

"Actually I do, it wasn't Nelie that attacked you last night...it was my wife."

"So then...if that was your wife then where is Nelie?"

"That is unfortunately what I do not know. I assume that she was captured the night you were attacked at Frighning Hook...or possibly even before then."

"Oh no..." moaned Neville, "it's all my fault!"

"No," replied Francis, "no it isn't. My girl is strong, she's a fighter...I know that where ever she is she is managing. She's been trained on what to do if she were to ever be captured by Death Eaters."

"How did you know it wasn't Nelie?"

"I knew immediately," began Francis, "that the woman who attacked you was not my daughter...and my thoughts were confirmed not long after I took her to the hospital wing. The polyjuice potion wore off and before me lay my estranged wife Jessica- however, she escaped before I could question her on Cornelia's whereabouts."

Neville was racked with guilt, he couldn't help feeling as though it were his fault that she had been captured. He could have done more to protect her. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

"Don't worry," began Francis calmly, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder as though he could read his mind. "We'll find her...or she'll find us- one or the other."

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" asked Neville.

Francis sighed.

"No I really ought to be going. I've got to get back to searching for my daughter. I'll keep you posted on any news. Good bye Neville."

Neville waited until he heard the soft pop and made his way back to the burrow.

Dinner so far was smooth sailing. It wasn't as bad as Neville thought it was going to be. He had been worried due to the fact that there were so many of them present- including Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Fred and George, Ron, Ginny, Harry and Hermione but they had all been so wrapped up in their conversations with one another that they hardly even noticed when Neville walked in to join them fifteen minutes late.

He slowly lowered himself in the empty seat next to Ginny and looked around anxiously.

"Neville dear- make sure to have all that you want."

Neville watched with displeasure as Mrs. Weasley began to pile his plate with food.

"_Eat up_," she told him, which earned her a glare from Ginny.

Neville picked up his fork and began cutting up his food into tiny pieces. Mrs. Weasley had prepared baked ham along with scalloped potatoes and pasta salad.

"Wow this looks delicious Mrs. Weasley," he lied.

"Thank you dear."

"Say Dad? Did you hear about the raid at Zingers?" asked Charlie.

"No what happened?"

"Well a bunch of Death Eaters broke in and wrecked havoc on the place and just…absolutely blew the place to hell…the Ministry believes they were searching for some sort of documents..."

"Was anyone hurt?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Yeah nothing too serious though," answered Charlie.

"There are Death Eaters swarming all over the place ever since the breakout at Azkaban a few nights ago," began Hermione. "Why can't the Ministry just send the Dementors after them?"

"Well they could," began Mr. Weasley, "but they would have to take a lot of time and precaution as to make sure that there aren't just unreformed Dementors running off loose."

"Those Dementors do just about as much damage as they do good," began Bill, "they're good for keeping prisoners in check but they don't know when to stop. They don't come built with codes of conduct, having too many of them out at once could prove disastrous."

"Too bad we couldn't get a couple to put ol' Percy in his place," said Fred, which earned an icy glare from Molly that stopped him right in his tracks.

"Sorry mum it was a joke!"

"Well it wasn't a very funny one," she snapped.

Neville pushed his food around on his plate and hoped that no one had noticed that he hadn't eaten any of it but that was wishful thinking as just at that moment Ginny nudged him under the table and nodded at his plate.

He picked up his glass of water and drank the entire thing hoping that it would fill him up enough to where if he were to eat he wouldn't overdo it.

"How is your family doing Neville?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Fine," he replied. "They are just tired of being cooped up for so long."

"You should invite them here for dinner," she continued. "We would love to meet them."

"Yeah maybe."

Neville had so far been successful in pushing around the food on his plate enough to give off the illusion that he had eaten some of it until he glanced up and saw that Hermione had been watching him rather closely, a frown set on her face.

As much as he protested the idea he gathered up some food on his fork and shoveled it into his mouth, hoping that this would please her enough to refocus her attention elsewhere.

"Thanks for dinner mum," said Bill as he stood up and placed his dishes in the sink. "I've really got to get going now- Fleur's waiting. See you all. Nice to meet you Neville."

With a soft pop Bill was gone.

The minutes went by and one by one everyone began to finish their dinner and plates were being cleared until only Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ron- who had just begun third's, Hermione, Ginny and himself remained sitting.

"Dinner was wonderful dear," replied Mr. Weasley as he stood up and took his plate to the sink. Mrs. Weasley followed and began to start on the dishes.

Ten minutes later he and Ginny were the only ones still sitting at the table and he had managed to get by with only having to eat four more bites- which wasn't bad but it most certainly wasn't good either.

"How was it then?" asked Molly.

"Excellent thank you."

"You didn't eat a lot," she observed. "Are you feeling alright dear?"

"Yes."

Neville handed his dishes to Molly and began to help her until she shooed him away politely.

"No- you are a guest here. Go on and see what the others are up to."

Neville followed Ginny out into the sitting room where Harry, Ron and Hermione were watching Fred and George test out their latest invention.

"I'll be right back," he whispered. "I need to use the loo."

He slowly made his way up to the second floor washroom and closed the door behind him. He knelt down in front of the toilet and eagerly got rid of what little he had eaten. He loved the feeling of being empty and whenever he ate that feeling was taken away and he hated it. Whenever he purged he was able to regain that emptiness that he so loved.

Once he was sure he had gotten every last bit of food up he leaned back and gave a sigh of relief. It had been a very long day and he honestly felt as though he could go straight to bed right then. He stood up making sure to avoid the mirror and contemplated what he could do to make up for tonight's 'slip'.

_"You fool! You idiot! How could you fall back into what they want! Think of what you want! Even though you got rid of it you and I both know that some of it is still lingering inside of you...waiting to attack...waiting to creep through every part of your body and make you fat!"_

Neville felt sick- guilty and disgusting. He had been doing so well with avoiding eating at all costs and now he had gone and ruined all of that in a single moment of weakness. He was so angry with himself that he could barely stand it. He was almost certain that he had gained at least a pound, if not more- which he absolutely could not afford and would not allow.

Suddenly there was a soft knock on the door.

"Yes?" he called.

"Neville are you alright in there?"

He opened the door to find Ginny standing on the other side.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"Well you've been in there an awfully long time..."

"I know I was just getting ready for bed. I'm really tired."

Ginny frowned but said nothing.

He followed her downstairs to her bedroom where she sat down on the edge of her bed.

"Well I suppose I'm going to head to bed myself then," she replied. "We've got an early day tomorrow...Charlie has offered to take us dragon hunting."

"Dragon hunting?" questioned Neville.

"Yes- he doesn't kill them," she reassured, "just captures them and trains them."

"Sounds fascinating."

Suddenly Ginny got up and began to undress.

Neville's jaw dropped and he quickly got up to leave but Ginny blocked the door, quietly closing it behind her. Here was Ginny Weasley standing before him- without her pants, her sweater falling above her knees- exposing her sexy, smooth legs.

Neville closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Where do you think you're running off to so quickly?" she asked.

"Er- well I don't want to keep you from-"

But before he could finish his sentence she slowly pulled her sweater up over her head and was now standing in just her underwear. Neville immediately felt his cheeks flush pink as he stared at her in awe. Ginny had a beautiful body- curves in all of the right places- small, perky breasts held up by a lacy, pink bra.

As much as he cared for Ginny, things had progressed rather slow for them in terms of their physical relationship- painfully slow- but Neville hadn't minded. He was simply too shy and awkward to initiate anything more than a nice snog but apparently Ginny had been wanting more.

She made her way toward him and pulled him into a deep kiss, her lips moving quickly against his and her tongue invading his mouth hungrily. She broke the kiss and shoved him back onto her bed and climbed on top of him, her vibrant hair cascading down over her shoulders and surrounding his head in a pool of red.

"I'm not making you uncomfortable am I?" she asked.

"N-no...not at all," he replied as confidently as he could muster.

"Good," she grinned as she began to plant kisses on his neck. She reached back and unhooked her bra- lazily tossing it aside. Neville sat up and stared at her bare breasts which were right there in front of his face- in their perfect, white form- firm and delicate. Oh how he wanted to touch them, lick them and suck on them!

Neville's hormones were really starting to kick in now. He wasn't afraid of sex but he wasn't exactly desperate to rush into it either. After all, he had his insecurities with his body and couldn't imagine Ginny even wanting to see him naked- in fact, he dreaded the thought.

Neville fought the urge to take her right then and there but was having a hard time looking away from her gorgeous breasts. He looked up at her- she was so beautiful and she was with him! She was practically offering herself to him right then and there but he just couldn't.

"Go on- _touch them_," she whispered.

"I-I can't," he mumbled. "I-I'm sorry Ginny. I've got to go! Good night!"

Neville jumped up off of her bed and ran all the way upstairs to Ron's room and climbed into bed. Luckily Ron and Harry weren't in yet because he needed to be alone.

You idiot! his mind scolded. Ginny Weasley was RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU- in the flesh, practically ready to take you then and there and you run away? What is WRONG with you?

Neville felt so embarrassed- he wondered what on earth Ginny was thinking right now. What sort of seventeen year old boy witnesses his girlfriend naked for the first time and runs away?

Neville didn't have time to ponder it for long because before he knew it he had drifted off to sleep.

**Author's Note: **So I've finally gotten back to writing a little more to the story as you can see! A lot going on in this chapter- we now know that Nelie in fact was not Nelie at all during the last chapter but rather Jessica Bloodworth and that the real Nelie is no where to be found, we know that the Death Eaters and Voldemort know that Neville has the key and are on the hunt and we also know that Ginny and Neville's hormones are starting to get a little wild...;)

I just want to make note that the last scene may seem rather shocking and/or out of place with the out of nowhere sexual tension but as I made clear in the summary at the beginning of this story- **adult content and situations would be present**- so far what we've seen from Neville and Ginny as a couple has been fluffy and innocent but as the story progresses they are both maturing and obviously, as young couples mature they want _more_- if you get my drift. So it's a little spontaneous but at the same time that is kind of how I view Ginny, as sort of the cute as a button, take home to your mom kind of girl but yet when the doors are closed the ferocious, fire sprite that she is takes over.

Anyways as usual thanks so much to my faithful readers for continuing to read my story and as always I can not stress this enough- **please, please, please** leave me your reviews! Comments- good or bad, questions, theories- anything! I thrive on your feedback!

Chapter 29 to follow. :)


	30. Intervention

**Author's Note: **(Yes I know I am sneaky...and because sometimes one isn't enough! ;) ) I notice I have some new subscribers/readers. First of all thank you for subscribing to my story but please don't be shy! Leave me your reviews! I've already delayed an update once for not getting enough encouragement and/or feedback to feel like I could continue with the story...and I definitely do not want that to happen again! :( I have a lot of people who read but don't review and I need the reviews to fuel my desire to update faster! So with that being said...on with the story!

**Chapter 29: **Intervention

Neville rolled out of bed at around seven the next morning. He stretched and swung both feet over the side of the bed.

"Mornin' mate," greeted Ron, poking his head inside of his room. "Everyone is downstairs having breakfast and then we're going hunting with Charlie."

Neville mumbled an inaudible good morning and fumbled with his glasses.

"I'll tell mum that you'll be down in a minute."

Neville grabbed a change of clothes and quickly got into the shower. When he arrived in the kitchen everyone was chatty, giddy and wide awake. Whereas he on the other hand, felt as though he hadn't slept a wink even though he had just woken up from a rather deep sleep.

"Good morning Neville," greeted Molly cheerfully. "I've got a plate set for you right here."

Neville yawned and sat down next to Ginny and as he did he suddenly realized with utter humiliation what had happened- or rather what _didn't_ happen- last night. He turned to her and smiled awkwardly and she simply smirked and gave his inner thigh a squeeze.

"So..." she began. "How'd you sleep?"

"Fine," he mumbled.

She wrapped an arm around him and kissed his cheek.

"_I'm sorry if I came on too strongly last night_..." she whispered into his ear, "_I couldn't help myself_..."

Neville smiled and nodded.

He was still embarrassed about it but at least she was being understanding.

Neville was brought out of his thoughts as Mrs. Weasley began piling his plate with food- waffles drenched in syrup, scrambled eggs and three slices of bacon.

"Eat up dear," demanded Molly. "You've got a long day of hunting ahead of you and you'll need your energy."

Neville scrunched his nose up in disgust.

"Oy- mum where's my wand?" came a voice from the other room.

"For heaven's sake- I don't know George! Check under that smelly pile of clothes blocking the doorway in the shameful place you call a bedroom!"

Molly tsked and shook her head.

"So are you excited about hunting with Charlie?" asked Ginny. "I've been a couple of times but we never caught any dragons...it should be fun."

"Yes it'll be interesting," answered Neville.

"'Morning Neville," greeted Harry.

Harry, Ron and Hermione along with Fred and Charlie had been caught up in their own conversations on the other side of the table and had just now taken notice of Neville joining them.

"'Morning."

"You ever been dragon hunting before Neville?" asked Charlie.

"No...can't say that I have."

"Well we are going to be leaving here in about twenty minutes- will you be ready?"

"Sure."

"You better hurry up and eat mate," replied Ron, "because if you're not ready we're leaving without you!"

Neville felt a wave of annoyance and irritation wash over him. He enjoyed the burrow but there were always so many people around! There was absolutely _no _privacy. He picked up his fork and began to play with his food, wishing that he could will it away with his mind.

"What's the matter?" asked Ginny.

"Nothing."

"Why aren't you eating?"

"Dunno..."

Ginny sighed.

"Oy! Found my wand," replied George as he entered the kitchen with a lopsided grin. "And by the way _mum_...it wasn't under that pile of smelly clothes blocking the doorway..."

"So then where was it? Up your-"

"FRED!" bellowed Molly as she whipped around to face him with a look that would make Voldemort fall to his knees in fear. "Unless you wish to be hexed back inside of my womb I suggest you _do not_ finish that sentence!"

"BOLLUCKS MUM! I was going to say _sleeve_!"

Harry and Ron snickered.

"_And you two_," continued Molly, her head snapping toward Harry and Ron who immediately hushed with fear, "_do not_ encourage him!"

Ginny giggled quietly and whispered into Neville's ear.

_"See never a dull moment here."_

Five minutes later the others got up and exited the kitchen, along with Molly who followed to nag Fred and George about wearing their shoes in the house. Neville and Ginny were left alone.

"Neville talk to me."

"About what?"

"Well for one...what was last night all about? Do you not want to be with me?"

"Of course I want to be with you..."

"Then what? I am very happy with you but...when are we going to move things to the next level? I'm very attracted to you and every time I see you I want to rip your clothes off and shag the hell out of you...don't you feel the same about me?"

Neville's cheeks began to burn.

"Always," he answered honestly.

"Don't you want to make love to me...?" questioned Ginny.

But before Neville could answer Molly -thankfully- had returned.

"_Those boys_..." she sighed under her breath. "_I swear it's a wonder my hair still has its color_..."

"Oy- Ginny c'mere!"

"Be right back," she told Neville.

Neville thanked Merlin for whoever had called Ginny because now was his chance. He was alone other than Molly whose back was turned to him.

"_Deletrius_," he muttered and immediately his food vanished into thin air. He picked up his plate and eagerly took it to Mrs. Weasley.

"Thanks for breakfast."

"My you polished off that plate rather nicely!" replied Molly with astonishment. "Would you like more? There is plenty."

"No thanks Mrs. Weasley."

"Alright dear you have fun and be careful."

Just as Neville was leaving the kitchen Ginny walked back in.

"Wait- you're already done?" she questioned.

"Yeah just finished."

"But..." began Ginny. "I haven't even been gone a minute and you had a full plate...how is that-"

"C'mon," beckoned Neville grabbing her arm, "let's go find the others."

They found Charlie, Fred, George, Harry, Ron and Hermione out in the backyard. Charlie was handing them all what looked to be protective gear to put on.

"_This_," he began holding up what looked to be a heavy, rubber padded suit, "is the only thing standing between you and fifteen thousand degrees of flames."

"Aw really do we have to wear those stupid things?" asked Fred.

"If you don't want to be reduced to a melted, steaming pile of goo then yes," answered Charlie. "It'd be kind of hard to get a girlfriend then, yeah?"

"But...they're _so ugly_!" added George.

"Well...mum and dad still say the same thing about you two but they kept and raised you both as their own."

"Real funny Charlie," retorted Fred, "who knew you were a comedian!"

Ginny giggled and pulled Neville along with her as they approached.

"You two are just in time," began Charlie as he tossed them both their own suit. "We're going to go over some ground rules first and then we'll all suit up and be on our way. Good?"

He waited.

"Rule number one," he began, "we all stay together."

"Unless of course one of us strapping young gentlemen happen across a damsel in distress right?" asked Fred.

Charlie rolled his eyes and continued.

"Rule number two- no one here is to embrace or come in direct contact with any dragons if we should come across one."

"What!" cried Ron in distress. "Then what's the point of us coming with you!"

"I'll tell you why little brother...none of you are trained to do this and I could get into very serious trouble for even having you guys tag along."

"So...we just get to stand around and watch while you have all the fun?" asked George.

"Rule number three, absolutely no magic- in fact, before we leave I'll need all of your wands."

"_WHAT_!" cried the twins in unison.

"Any unannounced magic will frighten the dragons...and a frightened dragon is _not_ a happy one. So those are all of the rules- any questions?"

"Yeah...why all of a sudden has this come to sound very boring?" asked Fred.

"You are more than welcome to stay here and help mum hand wash all of the bedroom sheets if you'd like," replied Charlie.

"Never mind! This all sounds rather fascinating now!"

"Alright we will begin by apparating to Craiova and travel through the mountains to the nearest forest where our search will begin. So go ahead and slip on your suits and I'll take your wands."

"Where's Craiova?" asked Ron.

"It's in Romania," replied Hermione.

They all put their suits on and apparated to the mountains of Craiova. The landscape was beautiful and crisp but rather cold and Neville was now glad for the ridiculous fire protective suits as they provided adequate warmth.

"Everyone stay close and follow me," replied Charlie.

They began walking silently, following Charlie who was steps ahead of them.

"So beautiful isn't it Neville?" sighed Ginny.

"Gotta keep up!" shouted Charlie to the rest of them over his shoulder.

Neville hadn't answered her because he was rather distracted by the fact that walking in their fire protection suits was more difficult than he had expected- that and he was still feeling exhausted, he soon found himself lagging behind the others.

Suddenly Charlie stopped and turned to them.

"Shhh...straight up ahead there's one. I need you all to stay back."

"Whoa," gasped Ron in awe.

And sure enough ahead of them no more than ten feet away was a dragon roaming. It had dark green scales and long golden horns that glittered in the morning sunlight.

"That ladies and gentleman...is a Romanian Longhorn," began Charlie softly. "This is their native land and they are a dying breed because people are killing them for their horns."

"What is so great about their horns?" asked Fred.

"They are a crucial ingredient to many common potions," answered Hermione.

"Is there anything you _don't_ know?" asked George in disbelief.

"So what are you going to do to it?" asked Harry.

"Just watch," whispered Charlie.

Charlie slowly walked toward the dragon until he was close enough to gain its attention. Once the dragon spotted him it turned and began to advance quickly toward him. Charlie stopped and waited for the dragon to come closer and then he placed both hands up in the air and waited. The dragon stopped about a foot from Charlie and began to huff menacingly, which caused large clouds of dark smoke to emit from its nostrils.

"Er...it looks to me as if he's just riling it up," began Ron.

Charlie then took a step forward, pulled out his wand and tossed it right in front of the dragon.

"_What_ is he _doing_?" asked George.

The dragon then brought its head down and began to sniff his wand, then miraculously the dragon used its nose to push the wand back to Charlie, who walked up to the dragon and began to pet it. He gently pulled it's head down and placed a large metal contraption with a blinking red light around it.

Charlie then made his way back over to the others- a wide grin on his face.

"That's it?" asked Ron with disappointment. "I was expecting it to be pissed off, blowing fire at you left and right and for you to battle it into submission..."

Charlie laughed.

"That's usually not how it works Ron, despite what that little pea brain of yours may think."

They descended from the mountains and made their way to the forest.

Charlie stopped and waited for them to catch up.

"Alright- now is where you all need to be very quiet, watch your step and keep an eye out."

They followed Charlie in silence as they traveled deeper into the forest and it was after about a half hour that they spotted their second dragon.

"_There_-_ see it_," whispered Charlie pointing.

A smaller dragon with copper colored scales, black ridges and small horns was roaming nearby.

"That's a Peruvian Vipertooth," began Charlie quietly, "so she's quite a long way from home."

"How can you even tell it's a girl?" asked Harry.

"Look at the way she is walking...she's right in the middle of heat so she's scouring the area for a partner. Males are more barbaric than their counterparts in their movements, also they walk with their tales up."

"Er...we aren't about to witness two dragons going at it with the throes of passion are we?" asked George with disgust.

Charlie chuckled.

"Who knows? Even if we were to it's completely natural."

At this Neville blushed and was cruelly reminded of last night when he had ran out on Ginny.

"She's poisonous so you have to be especially careful and also she's known to feast on humans so be on your guard."

"Wonderful!" began Fred with sarcasm. "So now if say George here gets eaten we can all defend his lingering pride by telling people that he died a virgin not because he couldn't find a girl but because he was tragically devoured by a lonely, lovesick dragon in heat!"

"That's probably the closest to a girl that he would ever get!" added Ron.

"OY!" shouted George. "I'm not a virgin!"

"May as well be..." teased Fred. "I wouldn't necessarily consider Patricia Humbee a notch on the bedpost."

George glared at his brother and slugged him.

"_Quit it you two_," warned Charlie. "Or I'll floo mum and have her drag you back home by your ears."

Charlie told the rest of them to stand back as he slowly approached the dragon and followed the same procedure as with the other one. Once the dragon allowed for him to slip the metal contraption around her neck he made his way back to them.

"Usually I'm not so lucky as to come across two this quickly...let alone one."

They traveled further into the forest and came across two more dragons within the next hour and by this time Neville was beginning to feel light headed. The others were much farther ahead.

"Neville?" called Ginny as she walked back to him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing just a little tired..."

"CHARLIE!" she shouted.

"N-no Ginny it's alright- really. I don't want to slow the others down."

"But Charlie said we had to stay together..."

It was too late however, Charlie and the others had already begun to make their way toward them and Neville felt so humiliated.

"Neville needs to rest," began Ginny.

"No I don't- I'm fine."

"I suppose we could take five," replied Charlie.

The others quickly wandered off within eyesight to explore while Charlie sat down to accompany the boy.

"Is this what you do for a living?" Neville asked.

"Whenever I'm not caught up in the order then this would be it," he answered with a grin. "It's a tough business but I quite enjoy it and it puts food on the table."

"So what exactly do you do?"

"Pretty much what all you've seen so far. I'm a dragon wrangler. I travel all around the world looking for dragons- of course it depends heavily on the weather although sometimes I happen to come across them off season. Once I discover a dragon I have to first gain its trust- as you saw with me surrendering my wand to them. They then sniff the wand to determine whether it is used for good purposes and intent. If they believe the person approaching them is suspicious or they are unable to detect they will attack."

"Wow," replied Neville.

"Once I gain their trust I place a tracking device around their neck and someone else comes to collect them where they are taken and placed with all the other dragons. I also help train them as well."

"Can we go?" asked Ron.

"Why must you be so impatient?" questioned Hermione.

They all got up and continued walking when Neville was once again winded, his vision was beginning to blur and his knees suddenly buckled beneath him.

"NEVILLE!"

Next thing he knew everything went black.

Neville sat up and observed his surroundings. He was back at the burrow in Ron's room. He got up and looked out the window where it was dark outside.

He cursed under his breath and pulled out his pocket watch. It was almost seven in the evening.

He made his way downstairs where everyone was getting ready to eat dinner.

"Oh no you don't!" called Mrs. Weasley as soon as she spotted him. "It's back to bed with you!"

"What- how long have I been asleep?"

"Apparently not long enough," she answered. "You're suffering from exhaustion."

Neville spotted Ginny sitting on the couch in front of the fire.

"Ginny what happened?"

"You fainted."

"I-I..."

"I'm worried about you," she began.

"Don't be...I'm fine now."

Suddenly Mrs. Weasley popped her head back into the sitting room.

"Well if you aren't going to go back to bed you may as well join us for dinner."

"Actually I am feeling rather tired still..."

Ginny glared at him.

"I think a little dinner would do you some good," argued Molly.

"Maybe later...I'm not quite feeling up to it just yet."

"Nonsense! A growing boy your age needs a good, hearty meal," replied Molly as she reentered the kitchen.

"Where are the others?" asked Neville.

"They are all out playing a game of quidditch."

"In the dark?"

"We have lights out in the yard."

"Oh. Well why aren't you out there with them?"

"I didn't feel like it."

Ginny sighed and continued.

"I really think you should see a doctor or something."

"Why would I need to see a doctor?" asked Neville baffled.

"Well it's obvious you aren't well..."

"What do you mean? I'm perfectly fine..."

"Neville-"

"Ginevra would you let the others know dinner is ready?" called her mother.

Ginny got up and went out the back door.

"Come on in and find yourself a seat dear," replied Molly. "I've made pot roast."

Neville sat down and grimaced as Mrs. Weasley poured him a bowl.

"Feeling any better son?" asked Mr. Weasley.

"Yes thank you."

One by one the others came trickling in and sat down although Neville couldn't help but notice that Harry and Hermione were absent.

"Smells delicious mum!"

"Thank you Ronald."

"George would you pass the salt?"

"So dad...what's the latest news at work?" asked Charlie.

Neville stared down at his dinner with anger and discontent.

"What's wrong dear?" asked Molly.

Neville looked up.

"Nothing."

Neville decided that as much as he'd hate himself for it later that he may as well just eat it quickly and then go get rid of it before anyone else even finishes. That would be better than him being questioned by everyone on why he wasn't eating.

So that is what he did. He mindlessly began shoveling the bits of beef and vegetables into his mouth at lightening speed and then brought the bowl up to his mouth to drink the soup. He looked up to find everyone staring at him and he awkwardly cleared his throat as he felt a massive blush coming on. He had been so intent on getting this all over with that he hadn't even considered his manners and was oblivious to how animalistic he must have appeared.

"Thank you Mrs. Weasley dinner was excellent."

"You're very welcome dear- have some more," began Mrs. Weasley, attempting to pile more food into Neville's bowl.

"Oh no thank you. I'm quite full."

"Well we have plenty of time to fatten you up yet! I can promise you one thing; you are going to be returning home to your grandmother very well-fed."

Neville's face burned as red as the Weasley's hair and he felt his stomach drop down to his knees and he tried not to frown.

He most certainly didn't need to be _fattened_ up. He was fat enough as it was! Why couldn't they all see that? Neville then realized that they all _had_ to see it and that Mrs. Weasley's comment must have been a cruel joke, offering a fat person more food to get a few hearty laughs- only no one had laughed, not even a snicker from Fred or George and he didn't think Mrs. Weasley had a cruel bone in her body but what else could explain it?

"Excuse me," he replied quietly, standing up from the table.

"Where are you going?" Ginny asked grabbing his wrist.

"I need to go uh check and see if my gran has written me…she told me to be expecting a reply tonight. I'll be right back."

Neville quickly dashed up the stairs and when he reached the top he stopped and waited for a few moments to make sure that no one was going to follow him.

When he felt it was safe he snuck into the washroom and locked the door.

He placed a silencing charm around the room. He could feel his dinner coming up already and all he had to do was kneel over the toilet and his body did the rest.

He leaned back and took a few deep breaths. He still didn't feel as if he had gotten enough out of him so he leaned back over the toilet and heaved but nothing was coming up. He raised his hand up to his mouth and stuck two fingers back as far as they could go down his throat, hoping to get a little bit more up. It worked.

More of his undigested dinner rose up easily.

Suddenly he heard noise other than the sound of his own heaving and gagging.

He stopped mid-purge to listen.

Voices.

Neville slowly got up and walked to the door so he could hear better.

Although they were muffled, he thought he could make out that it was Harry and Hermione, which would explain why they hadn't yet been to dinner.

Neville pushed his ear up to the door.

"Harry…Ginny and I are really worried about him. Do you think that you could talk to him tonight?"

"I've already tried talking to him…he just clams up whenever I mention anything."

Neville's heart began to pound faster. They were talking about him he just knew it.

"Try talking to him again, _please_? He'll listen to you."

"Okay."

He heard them go downstairs which Neville took as an opportunity to make a clean escape. He flushed the toilet, splashed cold water on his face and then quickly slinked back into Ron's room.

He layed back in bed and closed his eyes. He was still tired and felt as though he could fall asleep again but didn't want to. He had to keep himself occupied so he wouldn't fall asleep. He went through his knapsack and began to sort through things and after that he decided to write his Gran.

_Dear Gran,_

_I just wanted to let you know that I am still safe and sound at the burrow. I am having a lovely time-_

"Neville?"

Neville stopped writing and put down his quill.

"Oh hey Ginny…"

Ginny stepped inside and gently closed the door behind her.

"We're all going out to play some more quidditch- would you like to join?"

"No I don't think so Ginny…not tonight. I'm still kind of tired."

Ginny stared at him and bit her lip.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah but thanks for offering."

She let out a sigh and sat down next to Neville on the bed.

Ginny frowned at him.

"Neville…what's wrong with your eyes? Why are they red?"

"Hmmm? Oh uh…just allergies."

Ginny's eyes burned into his.

"_Allergies_? You work with plants on a daily basis. What could you possibly be allergic to here at the burrow?"

Neville stared down at his shoes.

"What's going on, Neville?"

"Nothing…what makes you think something is going on?"

Ginny bit her lip again.

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

His heart began pounding.

"Uhhh like what? What are you talking about Ginny?"

Ginny stared hard at him.

"I think _you know_ what I'm talking about…"

"No Ginny…really I don't."

"_I'm not stupid Neville_…" she began in nearly a whisper. "The fainting, the lies, the excuses, the sneaking off after meals and the anxiety about food…it all makes sense now. Hermione was right."

"Whoa, whoa…Ginny what are you getting at?"

Ginny continued to stare at him, tears were now welling up in her eyes.

"You need help Neville…"

"Help? Help for what! Ginny…I don't- I don't know what you're talking about!"

"You can deny it all you want but you have a _serious _problem."

"No I don't. I'm fine."

"You are _not_ fine!"

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Hermione poked her head inside.

"Ginny everyone wanted me to tell you that they're ready to start the ga-" Hermione paused when she noticed the tension in the room. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," replied Ginny hiding her face from Hermione. "Tell them I'll be out in a minute."

"Alright…"

As soon as Hermione closed the door Ginny broke down into sobs.

"Ginny?"

"I just…I don't know what to do! I haven't told anyone and I should have because then we wouldn't be having this conversation right now!"

"You haven't told anyone what?"

Ginny ignored him as her sobs grew louder.

"I-I suspected something was off...as far back as when Dean and the others would offhandedly mention they heard you throwing up- I just didn't put it together..."

"There isn't anything to worry about."

"Oh bollocks!" she shouted with anger. "You call not eating or making yourself yack after every meal something I shouldn't worry about? You can't keep doing this Neville…you're killing yourself!"

"Okay," replied Neville calmly in a dead whisper. "_I'll __stop_…"

"I don't believe you!"

"I will. I just don't want you to be a nervous wreck over me."

"I care about you so much Neville and I can't watch you do this to yourself anymore!"

"I'll stop. I promise."

Neville was willing to do anything for Ginny but _not_ this. It was the one thing he had for himself and he wasn't about to give it up. He couldn't and he didn't want to.

"You still need to tell someone Neville…you can't stop this on your own."

"Yes _I can_…"

"If you can then why haven't you?"

"I-I…"

"You need help. I want you to get better…if you don't want to do it for me then do it for you. I want you to be happy and healthy but now I'm always worrying about you. Worrying that something bad is going to happen to you…"

"Nothing bad is going to happen Ginny."

"How do you know?"

"Ginny…"

Ginny stood up and began wiping her eyes as she walked to the door, she opened it but before she left she turned around.

"You need to tell someone…"

And then she was gone.

The next day was rather uneventful compared to their dragon hunt the day before. None of them did much of anything other than lounge around at the burrow. Francis and Maitland had stopped by for breakfast and their search for Nelie was still ongoing with no news. Then Neville assisted Molly with her garden and went on a walk with Ginny where he serenaded her with romantic gestures.

He had gotten into the habit of continually checking his pocket- just in case- for the cold, steel key that he knew was there. The others had been curious about it but as he had promised Dumbledore, he refused to let it out of his sight- it never left his pocket.

Neville had also been especially careful to make sure he ate everything offered to him. After his conversation with Ginny last night he couldn't be too careful. It was obvious that she had her eye on him and he didn't want her to say anything to anyone else.

It was now lunchtime and Neville had quickly scarfed down his food, wiped his mouth and thanked Mrs. Weasley. He then muttered something about needing to write his gran.

As soon as Neville left, Ginny stood up and darted after him.

"Wait!" she called, grabbing him by the arm after catching up to him at the top of the stairs.

"I was just…I wasn't going to-"

"_Don't_ Neville…" Ginny warned dangerously. "Just_ don't. _I know what you were coming up here to do…"

"Look Ginny I'm sorry but I can't do this! I can't…okay? If it bothers you so much then maybe I shouldn't stay here."

"Neville! I don't care where you are I'm still going to be worried sick about you! See...I told you you couldn't stop this on your own!"

"Ginevra!"

"Be down in a minute mum!" shouted Ginny.

"Please Neville…_please_ just try for one day. Please don't do this…"

"Ginny I'm not going to make any promises to you that I don't think I can keep."

He shook his arm from her grip and walked over to the washroom door.

"Neville_ I swear_ if you even _think _about going in there I'm going to tell!"

"Everything okay up here?"

Ginny and Neville turned to find that Charlie had joined them.

"Er yeah Charlie, we're fine. Thanks," replied Ginny hurriedly.

"Mum sent me up to tell you guys that we're having the cupcakes now...although I don't know how good they turned out considering dad made them..."

"Great we'll be down in a minute," snapped Ginny.

Charlie frowned at his little sister; it wasn't like her to be so rude, especially to him. He was one of her favorite brothers.

Charlie looked from Ginny to Neville attempting to see if their facial expressions would reveal anything to him. The tension in the air could have been cut with a knife.

"It's fine Charlie…Ginny is just upset with me because I broke a promise. I'm sorry Ginny. I'm uh, going to go ahead and start packing."

Ginny frowned.

"No! Neville don't go…_please_, I want you here!"

Neville turned away from them and entered Ron's bedroom, gently closing the door.

Charlie eyed his little sister with concern.

"Want to talk about it, Gin?"

Ginny slid down the wall and stared blankly ahead.

Charlie knelt down beside her and placed his hand under her chin, lifting her head up.

"Gin look…whatever is going on you can talk to me. You can trust me. Talk to me, sis. What were you two arguing about?"

Ginny looked up at her older brother with tears.

"_Neville_," she whispered.

"What about him?"

"He's what we were arguing about."

"Wait," began Charlie. "I don't quite follow..."

A tear slid down Ginny's cheek.

"Ginny?"

She sighed and continued to stare straight ahead.

"Something isn't right with him..."

"Okay so what's wrong with him?"

"I can't tell you..."

"Ginny if it's something serious then you need to tell someone. You'll be helping him."

"I can't Charlie…he'd hate me! He'd never forgive me!"

"Oh Ginny…Neville's not that kind of bloke. He could never hate you. I'm sure he'd understand and would likely do the same if he were in your shoes."

Ginny leaned her head on her big brother's shoulder.

"How much did you hear Charlie? When you came up?"

"Everything," he admitted. "Although I don't know what exactly the concern is with Neville."

"So then why are you questioning me?"

"Because I want you to know that you can come to me when you have a problem. I want you to be able to tell me when there's an issue. I want you to come to me- not the other way around."

"Hermione thinks that Neville has an eating disorder," blurted Ginny. "He doesn't eat...and on the rare occasion that he does he pukes it all up afterward. He's been making himself sick for so long that his stomach automatically rejects food after he's eaten. He doesn't think it's a big deal and he keeps saying that he's fine but I know he's not! I'm really scared for him Charlie and I don't know what to do. I've known about this for a long time but I never told anyone…"

Charlie's face fell as he saw how much pain his sister was in.

"Well Ginny I have to say he's very lucky to have you."

"No…" began Ginny. "_I'm_ lucky to have him! Which is why I don't want to lose him!" Ginny began to tear up. "I_ can't_ lose him, Charlie! He's just wasting away and there's nothing I can do about it and it's killing me!"

She couldn't contain her tears anymore and she began to bawl hysterically into her brother's arms.

"Shhh it's alright, Ginny."

"You can't let him leave!"

"I won't. I'll talk to mum and dad and see if they can help."

"Please don't…"

Ginny and Charlie looked up to see that Neville had reemerged from the bedroom.

"_Please_? I-I don't want your parents to know about this…or anyone else. I just…I promise I'm not going to cause anymore trouble for anyone. I'm just going to go ahead and slip out the back."

"But Neville-"

"Ginny go ahead and go back downstairs. I want to talk to Neville alone. Tell mum we'll be down in a few minutes."

Ginny nodded and went downstairs.

Neville began nervously chomping away at his nails and refused to make eye contact with Charlie.

"We can help you Neville. If you let us..."

When the younger boy refused to acknowledge that Charlie had been talking to him he continued.

"Does anyone else know?" asked Charlie quietly.

"The others have questioned me...but I've proved to them that I'm fine now...all of them were worrying over nothing. I-I was just stressed but I've been taking much better care of myself and they're not worried about me anymore."

He forced a large, phony smile.

"Honestly I'm fine...better than ever and now I've finally gotten them off my back and I'd like it to stay that way if you don't mind," replied Neville a little more sharply than he'd intended.

Charlie sighed.

Of all things Neville Longbottom had grown into- lying had _not_ been one of them.

"What you are doing to yourself…not only is it hurting you but it's hurting my sister. I know you care about her Neville and I know you would never do anything to deliberately hurt her…but you have no idea this is _killing_ her as much as it is you."

Charlie must have taken notice as the color drained from Neville's face because he placed his hand on Neville's shoulder.

"She feels helpless and like she's to blame for your illness."

"My _illness_?"

"Yes. Illness, disease, disorder…however you want to call it but no matter what you call it it's a problem that you can not continue to hide. It's a problem that is far beyond your control. It will kill you if you don't get help."

"How do you know so much, Charlie?" Neville mumbled almost sarcastically, which Charlie seemed to miss.

Charlie gave a low chuckle.

"Well as you get older you live and you learn."

"Charlie can I ask you something? And be honest."

"Of course."

Neville took a deep breath and looked Charlie in the eye.

"Do I _look_ sick? I mean, look at me…" he motioned up and down his body with one hand.

"Neville regardless of what you look like on the outside...it's all _up here_," he paused, pressing a finger to Neville's head. "I mean also depending on how long this has been going on you may have seriously damaged your body but you can stop. You don't have to add on to the damage."

"You didn't answer my question Charlie. Do I _look_ sick? I'm not you know- like some of those people you see with every bone sticking out and- I just…I just wanted to lose some weight and be healthy-"

"But what you are doing is_ far_ from healthy. What you are doing is the exact opposite."

"Have you ever been _fat_ Charlie?" Neville asked bitterly, blindsiding him.

The elder Weasley blushed.

"No," he admitted softly.

"Then you don't know how it feels to be teased endlessly. To feel worthless and ugly and to have _that voice_ remind you during every waking moment that you'll never be good enough and that no girl will ever like you. I hated myself then and I still do now sometimes but no matter what I made a promise to myself that I will _never_ let myself become fat again. I'm still fatter than I'd like to be but I'm improving- day by day I'm getting thinner and I won't stop until I'm satisfied!"

"By then you'll be _dead_," retorted Charlie.

Neville scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"We all have to die sometime."

Charlie's mouth dropped in disbelief and he stared at Neville horrified. The boy was way worse off than Ginny had made him seem just mere seconds ago. He was so far gone into this eating disorder that it would take everyone he knew to help pull him back. There was no way in hell Neville would be able to do this alone.

"So you don't mind that this could kill you? As long as you are thin?"

Neville's eyes flashed. There was something dark reflecting in them and Charlie was glad that Ginny had left. He did not want her to have to see Neville like this if she hadn't already. It was quite bone chilling. Charlie shuddered.

"Charlie I will _not _allow for this to be taken from me. Not _now_," began Neville stubbornly.

"Why?"

"Why? What do you mean why? This is_ my_ body, _my_ choice…and no one else has got any say," he answered firmly.

"If not now then when?"

Neville didn't answer and Charlie continued.

"This isn't _you_ talking Neville, can you see that? This is your eating disorder speaking for you. It's got complete control over you…your body, your mind and it doesn't want to let go but you can fight this. You don't have to let it take you; you don't have to let it win! Let us all help you Neville. Please?"

"I think you'd better get downstairs before your mum begins to worry," replied Neville coldly, as he started to head for the bedroom but Charlie grabbed his wrist.

"_Tell them _Neville."

"No."

"My parents have already accepted you as one of their own, let them help. If not for you then do it for Ginny…"

"No! I'm not telling anyone and you can't either! I'm leaving so that way I won't be causing Ginny any more stress."

"Are you kidding! You'll be causing her even more stress if you leave!"

Charlie was beginning to lose his patience.

He grabbed Neville firmly by the shoulders and pressed him into the wall making it impossible for him to escape.

"Neville listen to me. You are not going anywhere tonight. This is going to go down one of three ways, are you listening? One you can go downstairs and talk to my parents and tell them what is going on, two I can go downstairs and tell my parents what is going on or three we can floo your gran here and we'll explain to her what is going on but either way this is a secret that neither myself or Ginny intend to keep any longer."

Neville stared at Charlie blankly at first trying to register what he had just said. He tried to replay the moment but his mind had gone elsewhere. He was numb, empty and had absolutely no recollection of what Charlie had just told him. It wasn't possible; he had to be having a nightmare. This couldn't be happening, _not now_.

Neville's eyes suddenly grew dark again and he glared at the second eldest Weasley brother.

"I'm sorry Charlie..." he began in a low, sour tone. "But this conversation is _over_ and I am leaving."

Neville turned away and the second his hand touched the doorknob Charlie spoke.

"You won't get far because I'm going downstairs right now to tell everyone."

Neville jerked around to face Charlie so quickly that he almost fell over.

"_Excuse me_?" Neville whispered so softly that Charlie could barely hear him.

"Either you are going to tell someone or _I will_. Would you like me to floo your gran?"

"No!" Neville quickly replied. "I-I'll write her a letter and tell her everything, okay? Please don't tell any of the others…"

Charlie embraced him and once again placed his hands firmly on his shoulders.

"Neville I'm sorry but that's not good enough. You need to tell someone face to face."

Neville hung his head in defeat and Charlie felt his shoulders slump underneath his hands.

"Look this isn't going to be easy but Ginny is here to help you get through this. I'm here and we're all your friends Neville. One of the hardest things about having a problem is not only admitting it to yourself but admitting it to someone else."

Neville swallowed and looked sheepishly at Charlie.

"Does it have to be tonight?" he whispered.

Charlie nodded sadly, noticing that the boy looked even sicker than he sounded.

"If you want…you can tell everyone at once or you can talk to my parents privately or Ginny and I could be with you if you like. Whatever works for you."

"B-before uh I decide anything could I talk to Ginny?"

Without taking his hands off the boy's shoulders, Charlie surveyed him closely, speculating if this was a good idea or not.

Neville saw that Charlie was seriously doubtful and sighed.

"Please? Just for a minute…"

"Alright," Charlie finally agreed cautiously. "Then we're getting down to business, yeah?"

Neville nodded and Charlie patted him on the back and retreated downstairs.

Neville couldn't help but feel a little resentful towards Ginny for telling Charlie but he was far from hating her. Neville knew he had to get out of the burrow as soon as possible otherwise everything would be ruined as it was already threatened to be but if he kept on his toes he could still escape and get himself out of this ridiculous mess.

He had to be quick and he knew this would be hurting Ginny and that was the last thing he wanted to do but it seemed that no matter how he looked at it Ginny was going to end up hurt no matter what he did; and he figured it would be better if he could make the hurt as short lived as possible. It needed to be a clean break. There was no way he would be able to stay here and watch her crumble before his eyes because of him. Charlie had said it himself, he was killing her.

"Neville?"

He snapped out of his daze and attempted to smile.

Ginny was still frowning.

Neville cleared his throat.

"Um Charlie told me that I uh, should probably tell your parents about…"

Ginny waited.

"About what…is going on with me and I just wanted um, to apologize," he whispered.

"What for?"

'_For how I'm about to betray and hurt you in such a way that you'll never forgive me.'_

"Just…for everything."

"So you're _really_ telling them?"

"Yes. I'd like to speak to them alone, possibly right before they go to bed."

"Oh Neville! I'm so proud of you!"

Ginny flung herself into Neville and hugged him tightly.

"It's going to be okay and if you feel like you're beginning to get cold feet I'll be here if you need support, okay?"

She kissed him firmly on the lips and grabbed his hand.

"Ready to go back downstairs?"

"Yes...I'll be down in just a moment. I need to uh- finish writing to my gran..."

Ginny finally smiled and squeezed his hand. She kissed him firmly on the lips.

"I'm proud of you," she beamed.

That was all it took for Neville to know that he was a dead man. He couldn't even look her in the eye. There would be no way she would forgive him for what he was about to do.

As soon as she disappeared down the stairs he wasted no time. He quickly entered Ron's room, grabbed his things, threw them out the open window and leapt out after them.

Neville aparrated to Francis' cottage and luckily the front door was unlocked and he ran inside.

"Gran! Algie! Enid!" he called.

"Neville? We're in the kitchen dear."

"Get all of your things together. We're going home," he replied breathlessly.

"What on earth-" began Algie.

"Just do it!" exclaimed Neville.

Fifteen minutes later they all aparrated to the Longbottom mansion.

"_Home sweet home_," mumbled Neville as he led the way up the cobblestone path.

The Longbottom mansion was larger than life. The mansion was three stories with twelve bedrooms. It was the only residence within hundreds of miles surrounded by forty acres of lively gardens and ten private lakes. It was a stunning bright white with dark mahogany trimming and at night it was lit up with brilliant multi-colored illuminating lights, and right in front proudly waving was a huge flag with the Longbottom family crest on it.

"It is rather nice to be home..." admitted Augusta.

Inside the residence were eight marble fireplaces, a curved, varnished staircase, an enormous hand painted mural on the ceiling of the sitting room and an indoor swimming pool.

"Well..." continued Augusta, "I suppose I should owl Lowsley and inform him of our return."

Duff Lowsley was their butler and had been serving The Longbottoms for over thirty years. He was Augusta's longest serving and most trusted staff member.

As soon as they entered Neville flopped down on the couch and stretched out. He was sick with guilt at how he had just fled the burrow like he did and was ashamed of how this would affect Ginny. He decided he needed to distract himself in order to stop thinking about it.

He got up and made his way to the kitchen where his gran, Algie and Enid were.

"Why the rush boy?" asked Algie.

"Don't worry about it," mumbled Neville. "I'm going to take a nap."

When Neville awoke from his nap he went downstairs and chatted with his gran.

"I suppose I should begin supper," sighed Augusta.

"Would you like any help gran?"

"No thank you dear," she answered. "You go on and just relax some."

Neville went to his room and quietly shut the door behind him. He could not get Ginny off of his mind and was sick with guilt.

_"You did the right thing! Do not feel guilty for ruining her! She is the one who wants to ruin you!"_

Neville shook his head hard.

_"I tried to tell you she was trouble from the very beginning! She does not love you...she only wants to control you! She wants to make a fool of you!"_

He knew that wasn't true. He knew Ginny loved him and was concerned but she had no business telling Charlie what was going on with him, that was no one's business but his own and he felt completely violated. He wanted to be angry with her, to hate her, to never be able to forgive her but when he saw her sad, tear stained face in his mind his heart sank.

Neville stood up and began to pace.

_"Why don't you see what our progress is thus far? Surely it will ease your overworked mind..."_

Neville exited his room and went into the weight room. He walked inside and felt a rush of nostalgia hit him, this was where it had all began- this was where he had spent the majority of last summer when he had lost all of his baby fat. While he was sure his other peers were out on vacation or visiting friends, having the time of their lives his time was spent in here or in the garden. He walked over to the fancy, tech savy scale his gran had bought a few years ago and stepped on. It had told him that he now weighed one hundred and thirty seven pounds.

He smiled. A three pound difference from the last time he weighed himself wasn't great but it definitely wasn't bad.

_"Excellent work! I see that you have finally been listening! I will take you farther than anyone else! I am the only one you can trust! I have not failed you yet!"_

About an hour later Augusta called Neville for supper.

As he neared the kitchen he could smell it and he wanted to gag. She had prepared lamb, garlic potatoes and buttered bread.

"Thanks for making dinner gran...but I'm not hungry right now."

His gran raised her eyebrow and eyed him dangerously.

"Where are Algie and Enid?" asked Neville.

"They decided they would like to return home as well," she answered.

"I think I'm going to go ahead and go to bed..."

"At this hour?" questioned Augusta, looking down at her watch.

"I'm tired."

"Darling I made this for us to enjoy together...a celebratory, welcome home meal."

Suddenly there was a pop and Lowsley appeared.

"Lowsley! How are you?" asked Neville.

"Quite fine my boy. I must say I am happy to be back."

"Good evening Lowsley," greeted Augusta. "You are just in time to join us for supper and then it is back to work with you."

"Of course Madame."

Lowsley was a short, stocky man who was almost entirely bald except for the little bit he had left growing around across the back of his head to both ears.

He observed Neville closely.

"Monsieur," he began addressing Neville. "Forgive me for saying you do not look well."

Even with constant reminders for Lowsley to simply call him Neville, he never listened.

"I've been through quite a lot," he answered.

"Lowsley would you please set the table?"

"Right away Madame."

"Sit," Augusta demanded, pushing Neville into a chair.

"I-I can't...gran I've got things to do."

"Hush. You can resume with them after supper."

They all sat down and quietly began eating, all except for Neville that is.

"This looks..._delicious_ gran," he lied.

"Then go on," she replied, "enjoy."

Just as he was about to grab a slice of lamb there was an ear shattering crash.

Neville and Augusta jumped up at the same time.

"What in Merlin's great name was that?" shouted Augusta wildly.

Neville ran into the sitting room where the entire place was filled with black dust. Neville began waving his arms around trying to clear the air. He was then met with the sound of people sputtering and coughing loudly. His heart began to pound.

He pulled out his wand, ready to attack.

"Who's there?" he called menacingly.

A minute later as the dust started to clear he saw Arthur, Molly, Charlie and Ginny Weasley along with Francis- covered head to toe in soot- standing in his sitting room.

His jaw dropped along with his wand arm.

"What are you doing here?" he shouted.

"I thought I told you to never leave without telling anyone again!" scolded Molly, as she approached him wagging a finger in his face. She then grabbed him and pulled him into a rib crushing hug. "We were so worried!"

"Neville what is going on?" asked Augusta as she entered, her face dropped in horror as she eyed the four strangers along with her estranged son standing in her now dirty sitting room.

"You did not tell me you were expecting guests," she replied through grit teeth.

"I-I wasn't!"

Augusta narrowed her eyes on the four Weasley's, looking them up and down disapprovingly.

"Hem," Arthur cleared his throat and warily began to approach her, sticking out his hand. "I'm Arthur Weasley and this is my wife Molly, our son Charlie and our daughter Ginny. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Your home is lovely!" gushed Molly.

Augusta simply stared down at his hand, unwilling to take it. She turned to Neville who slumped down in defeat.

"Lowsley!" she called.

"Yes Madame?"

"Would you please escort these people out of my home?"

Lowsley nodded.

"Wait!" pleaded Molly. "We've come to check on Neville...he left in such a hurry we wanted to see if he was alright."

"He is fine," answered Augusta rudely.

"Mum," began Francis, "there is something we are here to discuss concerning Neville."

Augusta ignored him and stared at them with her arms crossed and her foot tapping impatiently on the hardwood floor.

"Darling will you please inform me on what is going on?"

"Gran..."

"If you will excuse us we were right in the middle of supper. I must ask you all to please leave."

"I am afraid we can not leave until we get some things sorted out," replied Arthur.

Augusta stared at him appalled.

"I will not tolerate being told what to do in my own home!"

"Augusta please," began Molly. "I assure you this isn't the circumstances we had hoped we would be meeting under but we are all concerned about Neville."

"My grandson is _my _concern and he is fine."

"Mum he is not fine!" shouted Francis. "Look at him!"

Neville glanced at Ginny who would not even look at him. Her eyes were focused on the ceiling mural and he could see that she had tears in her eyes, threatening to spill at any moment.

"This is an outrage!" cried Augusta. "I have just returned home after being run out and I will _not _stand for this any longer!"

"Please can we just sit and talk somewhere...then we will leave. This is extremely important," pleaded Arthur.

Augusta was still standing with her arms crossed and her foot tapping.

"Neville would you please tell your guests that they must leave immediately."

Neville stared at the floor.

"I do not see what is of such importance that we be so rudely interrupted."

"Perhaps we should listen to what they have to say?" offered Lowsley.

"Come Neville," started Augusta. "Dinner is getting cold."

Augusta turned to head back into the kitchen.

"Neville is your grandson!" blurted Ginny. "Don't you care?"

Augusta stopped dead in her tracks and turned around. Her brown eyes set on Ginny.

"How dare you come inside my home and-"

"_Mum listen_," began Francis angrily. "Neville needs our help."

"Augusta we are all worried about Neville," added Molly.

"_Oh_? And why is that? Would anyone care to tell?"

"Well he's just so thin lately…"

Augusta dismissed Mrs. Weasley's worry with the swipe of her hand as she turned her back to them and reentered the kitchen. Neville quickly followed along with everyone else.

"The boy is fine. If anything he is at long last beginning to take more after his father. Frank was always thin and Neville is finally growing and all of that baby fat he used to have has all but melted off on its own. He's just now starting to take some pride in his appearance as he should."

"Augusta look at him…he's_ too_ thin. I do believe there is a fine line between trying to keep healthy and becoming obsessive."

Augusta glared daggers at Molly.

"It seems to me as if you might be suggesting that you know more about my own grandson than I do?"

"Oh no Augusta! Not at all! I just want to let you know that we are all so worried about him. Ginny tells me that he has a very low opinion of himself and that's very troubling." Molly paused to observe the older witch before continuing. "We think there may be something more serious going on with Neville…"

"Such as?"

Molly sighed and looked to her husband for support.

"He's stopped eating," answered Francis.

"I assure you my grandson is eating just fine. I've made sure of that."

"But mum he just keeps getting thinner every time I see him…"

"Well that just shows that he has finally grasped onto and is practicing the idea of self-discipline. I believe I know my grandson better than you and I would appreciate it if you would keep all of your preposterous opinions to yourselves! Lowsley, please show these people out."

Neville couldn't take it. He knew that running away from his problems wouldn't solve anything but that seemed to be the only thing he knew how to do.

He made a quick dash for the door but Arthur swiftly got up and blocked it.

"_We know_," he whispered to Neville. "Ginny and Charlie told us everything and we are not leaving here until you tell your gran and if you don't then we will."

Neville turned around in defeat and sat back down.

"_Tell her _Neville," coaxed Charlie gently.

"Tell me what?" questioned Augusta, her eyes burning into Neville's.

"I don't know-"

"Do not play dumb with me," snapped Augusta.

"We are not leaving here until you tell her," said Francis.

"I have _nothing_ to say," replied Neville sternly.

"How unfortunate," began Augusta, "it is obvious that my grandson does not wish to speak to me with all of you present. I assure you that whatever the issue at hand may be I will handle it. So once again, kindly I ask that you all make your way out."

Molly shook her head sadly and grabbed Ginny into a tight hug.

"We _are not _leaving Augusta," answered Arthur firmly.

Augusta's eyes flashed with anger and she flew up out of her chair.

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE THIS INSTANT!"

Neville's mind was running wild as he tried to block out the obscenities his gran and Francis were now exchanging when he suddenly jumped out of his seat.

"SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU JUST SHUT UP!"

Everyone fell silent and stared at him in shock.

"I'd like to first apologize for being so rude...I would also like to apologize for my gran's less than polite behavior." He glared at her.

"Gran...these people are my friends. Francis is family and I expect you to treat them respect."

Augusta stared at him angrily.

"I will do nothing of the sort. These people just barged into my home with no warning and interrupted our family meal. They ought to be ashamed."

"No _YOU_ ought to be ashamed! Have you no kindness and compassion left in you? How can you treat people so poorly? Especially people who gladly took me in- no questions asked when I needed a place to stay!"

The room remained hushed.

"Gran...I-I need to tell you something..."

The anger on Augusta's face slowly faltered until her expression softened with what looked to be concern.

"What is it darling?" she prodded quietly.

"I-I..."

Seconds passed and then minutes as Neville remained silent.

"Neville has an eating disorder!"

Everyone including Augusta turned to Ginny.

Augusta's face fell with confusion as she turned to Neville.

"A...an _eating_..._what_?"

"An eating disorder," repeated Ginny. "That's why he's so skinny...that's how he's lost all of this weight that you consider _'fine self-discipline,' _he's been starving himself and on the rare occasion that he does eat he throws it all up afterward!"

"Neville is using food as a form of control," added Charlie. "He feels as though he has no control over his life now with everything that has been going on. Starving and vomiting bring him a sort of euphoric rush- similar to those who are on drugs or drink. Losing weight is an obsession- a deadly one at that because he _won't_ stop."

Augusta turned to Neville, her eyes wide with bewilderment.

"_Is this true_?"

"Of course not! They are lying! It isn't true!"

"Mum it is right in front of your eyes and you have failed to see! Look at the dinner plates- see how two of them have been eaten off of and then look at Neville's- not a thing has been touched."

"I told you...I'm tired. I just want to go to sleep," argued Neville.

Augusta sat and watched her grandson carefully and suddenly her face grew sad.

"Have I put too much pressure on you?" she questioned aloud- more to herself than to Neville. "Have I not loved you enough? Have I been too hard on you? Why in Merlin's name would you want to do these things to yourself..."

"I'm fine gran...this isn't a big deal but everyone else is making it out to be."

"Have I failed you? Is this your way of punishing me?"

"Augusta...this has _nothing_ to do with you," pressed Charlie.

Augusta placed both hands over her face, stood up and began to pace.

"We're all here for the same reason," began Molly softly as she stood up to place a comforting arm on the older witch. "To figure out what the best way to help Neville is..."

Neville's face began to burn as his eyes moved to and from each person in the kitchen. He hated how they were all talking about him as if he weren't there. He hated how they were all talking about what was "best" for him. He hated how they were all trying to take _this_ _thing_ from him.

"May I say something?" he questioned, only no one had heard him because they were all quietly conversing with each other.

"I have something I'd like to say!" he shouted.

Everyone immediately stopped talking and all eyes were on him.

Neville put on his biggest smile.

"I first would like to say that I am overwhelmed with much joy and appreciation that you are all here and that you all care so much but truly I am fine. I _eat_. I don't have any sort of weird food issue as you all seem to think. I'm just not handling my stress very well. I need to step back and take better care of myself...nothing more to it!"

At this Ginny rolled her eyes and glared at him.

"Do you really expect any of us to believe that bullshit?"

"It isn't bullshit Ginny..."

"This..._eating disorder_ has completely taken over you and your life! This isn't you Neville! Before all this you were...you were so sweet and innocent...but this has made you become someone completely different and it scares me. Where has the boy that I fell in love with gone?"

"I'm right here."

Ginny shook her head sadly and looked away.

"You can not deny this any longer Neville," said Francis firmly. "There is no where else to run, no more lies or excuses you can throw out. You've been found out and you can not work your way out of this but what you can do is admit your problem and accept our help."

Neville glared at him and then turned to Ginny.

"_This is all your fault_," he began darkly.

"_What_?" she whispered, her eyes filled with tears. "Are you out of your mind?"

"Hold it," began Charlie as he advanced toward Neville. "That isn't fair and you know it. Ginny is not to blame for this- no one is. She told me because _she cares_, not to hurt you or betray you."

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," snapped Neville. "I'm going to bed."

But as he made his way through everyone he felt someone hold him back with an iron grip and he was shocked to see that it was his gran.

"Darling," she began wearily, "this is something we _must_ discuss."

"No _it isn't_! I want you all to leave! Get out! Just leave me alone!"

"I'm afraid we can't do that son," answered Arthur.

"JUST GET THE FUCK OUT! ALL OF YOU! If you don't believe me then fuck you all! You all are just trying to sabotage me! How do I know that any of you are even on my side? Maybe you are all just out to get me- to throw me out to Voldemort and his Death Eaters!"

"My grandson is delusional..." Augusta mumbled sadly to herself.

"NO! SIT THE FUCK DOWN AND LISTEN TO ME!" shouted Ginny as she grabbed Neville by the collar of his sweater and shoved him down into a chair.

"GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY!" shouted Molly.

Ginny ignored her mother and continued.

"YOU SOUND LIKE AN ABSOLUTE NUTTER RIGHT NOW, DO YOU KNOW THAT? WE ARE ALL HERE BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU AND WANT TO HELP YOU! YOU NEED US RIGHT NOW AND IF YOU CAN NOT GET THAT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL THEN WHAT THEY'VE ALL BEEN SAYING THESE YEARS IS RIGHT- YOU TRULY ARE AN IDIOT! YOU ARE STRONGER THAN THIS STUPID, FUCKING VOICE IN YOUR HEAD! THE ONLY PERSON AGAINST YOU RIGHT NOW OTHER THAN VOLDEMORT IS YOURSELF! GET A FUCKING GRIP AND LOOK AT YOURSELF! YOU ARE A WRECK! WHICH MAKES YOU MORE VULNERABLE TO THEM- VOLDEMORT CAN TRACK THE WEAK LIKE A FLY TO DRAGON DUNG! YOU MUST FIND YOUR INNER STRENGTH AND HEAL FROM WHATEVER IS EATING YOU UP INSIDE! YOU HAVE TO WIN THE BATTLE AGAINST YOURSELF BEFORE YOU CAN BE OF ANY USE TO US!"

Ginny's small round face was redder than a tomato. She had been shouting so loud and for so long that a vein on her forehead was still pulsating even after she had stopped.

She then got down and knelt before Neville, gently resting her elbows on his knees. Her anger had subsided and she was now crying.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to go off like that..." she began quietly through tears. "It's just...this illness that you have frusterates me. I know when you get short or defensive that it_ isn't you_...but it's coming out of you and that hurts me regardless. I want _Neville Longbottom_ back. I want the sweet, shy, clumsy, soft-spoken gentleman I attended the Yule Ball with back."

She sighed.

"Please Neville...just realize that what you are doing _isn't normal_...you need to get any negative connotations about yourself or how you are feeling out in the open so that you no longer feel the need to continue harming your health. Please? Won't you just admit that this is a problem? Won't you let us help you?"

Neville stared into Ginny's light brown eyes with horror. He couldn't handle the fact that he'd been found out, all of these people were here for him and they were all watching him. He couldn't bear the fact that they all wanted him to speak- to admit he needed help.

_"Well what are you waiting for? RUN!"_

Neville had been so used to listening to the voice in his head that any response he had to its calling was assured and automatic only now he did not listen. He sat and ignored it.

Neville looked up at everyone, who all stood silently with concerned faces, waiting on him to say something, anything. But he couldn't, the only thing he could do was cry.

And he didn't just allow for a few tears to escape, he broke down into a complete basket case. He screamed with anger, cried in pain and didn't hold any emotion back. His gran rushed over to his side and held him in her arms, quietly whispering comforting words into his ear.

Neville was so caught up in his outburst that he couldn't even feel embarrassed. After a few minutes he gently pushed his gran off of him and cleared his throat- fresh tears still spilling out of his eyes- he mumbled something and everyone had to lean in to properly hear him.

"I'm sorry everyone...for how awful and miserable I've been and for my short temper as of late. I can not express how terrible I feel for the wrongs I have said and done and can only promise you all that things will be different now. I am going to focus on myself and making right of everything. And with that being said...I am overwhelmed with all sorts of emotions- at first it was nothing but anger and feeling betrayed but now I feel relieved and like a weight has been lifted off of me. Thank you all for not giving up on me when I'm sure you all felt as though you could have. I am going to try my best to get this..."

Neville paused as if trying to think of the right word but couldn't bring himself to say it.

"_Thing_ under control."

Neville couldn't find it in himself to say eating disorder because of the little he knew about them he knew that they had to be something that happened to people who were weak and he had had enough of being weak. He would simply see what he was dealing with as a "_thing_" that would altogether be gone at the blink of an eye. He had managed to gain some control in his life through this thing and now that it had maybe gotten a little out of hand he could end it at the snap of his fingers. He was sure of it.

The others didn't seem to share his sentiment though. They all think he should allow them to help but why? Why should he let them help him? He didn't need their help.

_"Yes! That's the way! Smile and talk your way out of this! We're so close now that we can't stop! Just tell them what they want to hear! You can outsmart them again!"_

He continued.

"I'm sorry for everything," he finished as he shrugged his shoulders, not knowing what else to say. "I'm sorry."

No one said a word so Neville continued.

"I know now that I have you all looking after me...and it took you all to make me realize that...I wasn't getting along properly and now you've all set me straight." He smiled.

"Neville it isn't that simple..." began Charlie skeptically.

"What do you mean?" asked Neville. "We've all talked...I-I said I was sorry. I understand that you are all worried and I just said that I'm going to start focusing on myself..."

"But that doesn't make you all better," argued Charlie. "Talking is one thing...but following through? That's a whole new quidditch game mate."

The anger he had felt earlier began to resurface. They weren't buying into his lies. He needed a way out, he needed for them to fall into his web of deceit so he could resume his life the way he wanted.

Neville gritted his teeth.

"How am I supposed to allow for you all..." Neville paused and tried not to cringe, "to _help me _if you can't even trust what I am saying?"

"Trust that has been broken," began Ginny quietly, "must be gained back."

"So you're saying that...no this is stupid!" shouted Neville. "You are all treating me as though I'm a criminal or something! It isn't fair!"

"Neville you are _very_ sick...this illness that you suffer from- it's a _disease_. Your head is telling you and showing you things that aren't true and you are so far into its grip that you've lost yourself..." said Charlie.

Neville sat silently and listened as his gran began to sob. He looked up just as Molly rushed over to her side and gently nestled her head onto her shoulder.

He stared in shock, his gran _never_ cried.

"Neville please let us help you fight this," begged Francis. "You can't do it alone...just like you can't go up against Voldemort alone. This is just one more battle you have to fight...and we're not going to let you lose."

"Neville please?" added Ginny. "I love you and I will not watch you suffer any longer so you can either fight this or you can lose me."

But before Neville could answer there was another ear shattering crash and everyone froze with fear as a low voice laughed menacingly and spoke out to them.

_"I see you all decided to have yourselves a little party...pity you didn't invite me. It would have been quite a scream." _

**Author's Note: **Okay so wow- first of all SORRY again for the cliffhanger! Gah- I know it isn't very nice but I can't help it! This just so happens to be about the length my chapters are (in fact a tad longer!) and it has to end somewhere! Okay so much going on! The cat is FINALLY out of the bag! Neville's eating disorder is now out in the open and he can no longer hide it. The build up to this moment has been quite- turbulent and emotional from my point of view.

Having suffered from an eating disorder myself I know exactly how Neville felt while being confronted- the rage, the anguish, the pain, the feeling of defeat and yet also the feeling of relief. It's been very therapeutic for me to write this as I still go through times where the "voice" in my head rears its ugliness but as anyone who has ever suffered an eating disorder knows, you **can recover** but it will never fully go away.

It won't just magically disappear like those familiar _"very special episodes"_ on t.v. want you to believe, it won't just all of a sudden be okay once you get help- there will still be the lingering pain and everything that you have to deal with in the aftermath of it all. It's a **very painful **ordeal that I wouldn't wish on anyone but in my personal experience it has only made me stronger.

Sometimes while writing this my emotions get the better of me and I am taken back to when I was in Neville's shoes and it is definitely not something that comes easy so that may partly be due to why updates can take a little longer at times. I want to thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart for the encouragement and wonderful reviews! It means so much to me that what I am writing means so much to you. Thanks again! Chapter 30 to follow.

Please leave me your reviews and/or feedback! I look forward to what you all have to say! :)


	31. Motivation

**Chapter 30: **Motivation

Everyone moved in front of Neville, making a wall between him and whoever was mere seconds from entering. He was about to push his way up to confront whoever it was but was held back by Ginny who placed a hand over his mouth, well knowing what he was about to do.

"Where is the boy?" came the voice, which had belonged to a female. "If you are anything to be feared you would come forth and prove your worth."

"What have you done with my daughter?" Francis asked firmly.

"She is safe."

"_Where is she_?" Francis asked again.

"She is in good hands...and they have found good use for her where she is..."

"DAMN IT, JESSICA! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY DAUGHTER?"

Jessica tsked and Neville could hear her shoes clicking around the kitchen floor.

"My dear husband- don't you mean _our_ daughter?" she replied cruelly.

"No. You have never been a mother to her or my son. You are dead to us."

She tsked again and clicked her tongue.

"Why so bitter? I offered you a lifetime of power, wealth and immortality...you are the one who chose to remain living in a sad, pathetic little fairy tale dream. We worked well together Francis...you and I? We would have ruled the world..."

"You are _sick_," retorted Francis with a deadly venom in his voice. "And to think I could have ever loved such an evil, cowardly person such as yourself? It makes me sick to my stomach. I'm glad that I saw how wrong I was and that I was able to turn my life around. I am glad my children never knew you and I am glad that they do not remember you. You are a sad human being and most definitely the biggest regret of my life. I tried to save you because I loved you and for what? You probably have more blood on your hands than Voldemort himself..."

Neville cringed at the tension in the air as everyone else remained silent, waiting for Jessica's response. It seemed never ending.

"I am sorry you feel this way Francis but quite frankly I don't give two flying fucks. I came here to collect what should so rightfully be mine. I know the boy is here- you can not protect him any longer."

At this Neville grabbed Ginny's arm and loosened her grip, he stood up and pushed his way past everyone and stood face to face with Jessica Bloodworth- the daughter of Althalos. He looked her straight in the eye and without breaking eye contact, he spat at her feet. She smirked and turned toward Francis.

"That all you could teach him? You old, pathetic-"

"I must advise you _not _to finish that sentence," someone interrupted calmly.

Jessica raised an eyebrow and smirked with amusement.

Augusta stepped forward, her arms crossed and her hateful glare piercing into her former daughter-in-law, whom she had always hated.

"Oh Augusta...how _lovely_ to see you again," she hissed.

"You are not welcome here. All of your antics and wrong doings have ruined and brought shame upon my family! I knew _exactly _what you were from the moment I met you."

Neville watched his gran with horror. It was exactly like her to look evil in the face and say exactly what she felt but it was only a matter of time before that would all came back and become the death of her.

Without a word Jessica snapped her wand up and pointed it at Augusta.

"PURCUTIO!"

Augusta fell to the floor and began to writhe with uncontrollable convulsions.

"GRAN!"

"MUM!"

Both Neville and Francis lunged for Jessica and as they did she broke the curse and with the help of Charlie, Augusta slowly stood up- her hair disheveled and a look of determination.

"That all you got? You old, wretched hussy!"

"Mum!" shouted Francis, "_do not _tempt her!"

Jessica Bloodworth may have been as evil and nasty as they come but her beauty was undeniably striking and quite distracting. She was tall- as tall as Neville- and she had long, silky brown hair that shone and dazzled as though the sun were beaming down on it. Her skin was clear and tan and her almond shaped eyes were a radiant blue-green. Although when she spoke, her mouth twisted into a sneer and that was when her true self showed through. Neville stared her down hard.

"I know why you've come here," Neville began, "and I must assure you I am not the least bit sorry to have to inform you that you will be leaving here empty handed. You can either choose to leave here with your tail between your legs and present yourself as a failure to your lord, where your fate will most undoubtedly be a slow, agonizing death _or_ you can remain here, tell us where Nelie is and help us."

Jessica stared at the boy with sick delight and began to cackle- a dry, hoarse, evil sound that could only come from a dark and demented witch.

"You stand before me so brave and yet so oblivious. Stupid child! Do you not know who I am? I am a force far more powerful than any elder in this room has ever encountered. Do you honestly think I could not find my way past a seventeen year old boy? If you do not hand over the key I will have no choice but to torture everyone in this room you care so deeply for into a long and very painful death. So what do _you_ _choose_?"

"Let the others go. They have nothing to do with this. It's me you want."

"Neville no!" shrieked Ginny.

"Oh my! It completely slipped my mind!" began Jessica, a wide, evil grin growing on her face. "Seeing as how you were all having a little party I invited a few guests...hope you don't mind..."

Suddenly the Longbottom residence was swarmed with Death Eaters out of nowhere, as if they had been hiding this entire time, simply waiting for Jessica to give them the signal. Curses were flying left and right and Neville made sure to keep close to his gran and Ginny so he could keep an eye on them both.

He had been rather impressed with how quick and consistent of a dueler his gran was at her age and Ginny could certainly hold her own.

Fifteen minutes had gone by and Neville was surprised that everyone in his party was still up and dueling with few to minor injuries. Multiple times during the attack various Death Eaters attempted to make a grab for him and each were met with a vicious blow to the head by Charlie, who did not let Neville out of his sight.

"OCCULTO!" bellowed Neville.

Many of the Death Eaters grabbed their heads and fell to the ground instantly.

Neville raised his wand again but before he could fire he began to feel weird. His mind grew fuzzy and his vision began to blur and suddenly he grew very hot. He had been hit.

He searched the kitchen for whoever may have cursed him when he set eyes on the large Death Eater he had encountered as Shelby Bell right before discovering the key.

The Death Eater moved toward him and Neville somehow mustered it in himself to duel with the large Death Eater until Francis rushed over to relieve him.

He felt a pair of hands grab him and lead him out of the kitchen.

It was Ginny.

"The others want us to get out of here," she hissed. "Come with me."

"No! I can't leave them here!"

"Neville they will be fine. We have to hurry!"

Just as they reached the front door they were stopped by Jessica.

"Leaving so soon?" she barked. "But the party has only just begun!"

Suddenly Jessica pointed her wand at Ginny.

"CONSTRIO SPIRO!"

Ginny's hands flew up to her neck and she was opening her mouth as though she was trying to gasp for air, only she couldn't. Jessica was slowly suffocating her. Ginny fell to her knees, her eyes wide with terror.

"PUNCTURIO!" shouted Neville.

Jessica's wand flew out of her hand and a large gash appeared, as though she had been cut with an invisible knife.

"Using my own curses against me, eh?" she remarked darkly.

Ginny sprang up and began gasping for air.

"Yeah- they've been working quite nicely actually! EXURO VELOCITO!" he bellowed.

Suddenly Jessica's robes burst into flames and her screams attracted the attention of the other Death Eaters.

Neville and Ginny flew out the door and ran as fast as they could.

Once they had gone far enough out of harm's way they apparated to Grimmauld place where Sirius, Remus, Harry, Ron and Hermione were anxiously awaiting.

"Where are the others?" asked Sirius, his face etched with worry.

"They are still fighting," began Ginny. "Francis and my dad told us to leave."

Hermione ran up and hugged them both.

"We've been so worried. How were the others holding up when you left?"

"They seemed to be doing fine..." answered Ginny sadly. "Charlie promised he'd find a way to let us know that they are alright."

"I've got to go back and help them!" shouted Neville.

"No," began Remus calmly, "there is nothing more we can do than wait. There are enough of them there together to take the Death Eaters down."

"But those are my family and friends back there fighting for me! I can't just leave them!"

"Calm down boy, they are some of the most experienced wizards and witches among us. They will come out unscathed, you will see," added Sirius.

"There will be no use in worrying," began Remus. "Let us sit down and just talk. Are you two hungry at all?"

Ginny immediately turned to Neville.

"No! How could anyone be hungry at a time like this? I'm here safe and sound while they are all fighting for their lives! They are fighting my battle and it isn't right!"

"Neville..." began Hermione softly, "please try to calm down and listen to us. We are all in this together. This isn't just _your _battle."

"I think you should both come sit down and eat something," suggested Remus.

"Did you not hear what I just said?" snapped Neville. "I'm _not hungry_! Why does everyone act as though eating is the most important thing in the world? There are many more things far more important than food you know! Such as how the others are fairing!"

Remus and Sirius exchanged worried glances.

"_Neville_," began Hermione sternly, "we all know about your eating disorder now. You can't continue to not eat...the effects of it are starting to show now more than ever. You aren't thinking clearly and you are growing weaker. You have to get this under control otherwise you aren't going to be here long enough to help defeat Voldemort!"

"You just can't stop running your mouth can you!" shouted Neville. "So everyone knows _what_ now? That you've manipulated everyone and lied about me? You've poisoned everyone including Ginny into thinking that I-I've got some kind of _thing_! It's not true!"

Hermione glared at him and got within an inch of his face.

"You aren't fooling anyone anymore!" she shouted. "You can't talk your way out of this or give us any of your tired excuses! Your lack of nutrition is making you delusional!"

"How would you feel if everyone in your life told you they could no longer trust you? If you had everyone accusing you of things that simply aren't true? Everyone thinks I'm a nutter now thanks to you! I sometimes wish I would have never met any of you! All you are out to do is sabotage me! All of you! Want some words of advice from me, Hermione? You should stick to what you're good at- burying your nose into books and following Ron around like some love sick puppy! Just stay out of my life!"

A heavy, unbearable tension filled the air.

Sirius and Remus glared at the boy with confusion, Harry and Hermione stared at him dumbfounded, Ginny stared at him in shock and Ron with pure hatred.

"WHY YOU- I WARNED YOU!"

And with that Ron barreled his way toward Neville and punched him square in the face, just as he had promised. Neville stood and took the punch, which came at him with such force that he fell back and landed flat on his arse. Blood immediately began pouring out of his most likely broken nose.

Everyone stood without moving, not quite knowing what to do.

"I deserved that," replied Neville calmly as he got up, "but I _don't_ regret what I said."

"You're _really_ asking for it now!" growled Ron.

"Ron!" shouted Hermione, as she grabbed him to pull him back from advancing toward Neville again. "Don't buy into it! He doesn't mean it- he didn't mean that! This isn't him talking right now!"

"I don't care _who_ it is talking!" shouted Ron.

"Hermione is right Ron..." added Remus weakly, "we can not allow ourselves to get caught up in what he says, otherwise we will regret it. He is no longer in control of himself."

"What are you talking about?" shouted Neville. "I'm RIGHT HERE! Quit fucking talking about me as though I'm not here!"

Ron took a step back and began to clench and unclench his hands, mumbling to himself.

"_Okay- okay_..._this may not be him...but he's being a nasty twat_! _I got some anger out...felt good_...you better watch it though!" he threatened.

Neville turned to make his way out but Sirius caught him.

"We can't let you leave..."

"You can't keep me here!"

"Neville," began Remus calmly, "please come sit down and let me have a look at your nose."

Ron began cursing and stormed out of the room.

Neville allowed for Remus to lead him away from the others and into the kitchen where he examined his nose and cast a spell to stop the bleeding.

"It doesn't appear to be broken...however there is some swelling and I imagine you may be sporting a couple of black eyes...he did hit you awfully hard."

"I deserved it. Maybe that's just what I needed."

"You need to take a look at things from an outside perspective, Neville. Think of how your actions are affecting others. You are taking your emotions out on the ones you love and that is only going to create tension and discomfort. This isn't like you- it _isn't_ you. If you were to see the way you've been behaving...you would not be happy with what you've become."

"But _I am _the same! Still a nobody! I just happen to be a nobody who was dealt a very crucial task- one that at the moment, I am not handling very well."

"That is not true and you know it. This is your disorder talking."

"I just- no one understands what I am going through...well, other than Harry maybe but I just don't understand why everyone is on my case. I understand they care but what I choose to do with my life or with my body is my business! No one can make me do something I don't want to do. _I'm _in control of things- not you or anyone else! It isn't fair."

"We aren't just going to stand by and watch you kill yourself."

"I'm not killing myself! I'm fine!"

"Neville...what you see compared to what other people see is very different."

Neville remained silent and crossed his arms over his chest.

Suddenly Ginny walked into the kitchen and sat down next to Neville.

"So we're back at square one again I suppose?"

"What are you talking about Ginny?"

"Back to your old tricks already I see..."

"Ginny what-"

"You admitted to us back at your gran's that you needed our help- you told us you were going to try and fight this and now here you are refusing to acknowledge that any of that went down just a bit ago?"

"I didn't admit to anything. _You all _decided to do that for me," snapped Neville.

"Eat something with me," she replied.

"I'm not hungry."

"Oh of course _you're not_," Ginny snapped back bitterly.

"_I'm not_...I ate dinner at gran's before you all arrived."

"Stop lying!" shouted Ginny, jumping out of her chair. "Do you even remember the last time you ate anything?"

"Ginny..." started Remus firmly, "just leave him alone. Badgering him will not help matters any."

"What do you want, Neville? Do you want me to give up on you? Do you want me to allow you to kill yourself? Do you want to _lose me_?"

"I just want to be left alone."

Ginny cursed at him and stormed out.

"It is going to take time and patience to heal and recover from this Neville but can't you see that this is not only affecting you? Ginny is hurting so much from this."

Neville sighed.

"I don't know how things have turned out to be so...out of control."

"Do you realize how serious this is?" asked Remus.

Neville looked up at his former professor with confusion.

"You taught me during my third year...so you remember how _fat_ I was. I am terrified of becoming that person again. I will not become fat. I've worked too hard to get to where I am now!"

"You were never fat Neville," replied Remus softly. "Other children can be cruel..."

"I hated myself then..." continued Neville. "I-I remember some nights I'd just go down into the common room after everyone else had gone to sleep for the night and just cry. I wanted to die. I felt like nothing more than a waste of life and I would fantasize of different ways I could off myself that wouldn't be too disgraceful in the eyes of my gran."

Remus watched the boy with sad, worried eyes and waited for him to continue.

"I've never told anyone this..." he continued quietly, "but fifth year...after the whole Department of Mysteries ordeal...I actually did it. I tried to off myself...but of course, like many other things in my life I failed miserably."

Remus gasped.

"How can you not have told anyone this Neville? You could have gotten the help you needed long before now."

"I didn't feel like this was something I needed to share."

"Why did you try to kill yourself Neville?"

"I just couldn't handle the idea of living anymore. I mean- after coming face to face with Bellatrix, knowing what she did to my parents, knowing that she wouldn't stop until she had hunted all of my family down...like it was some sort of conquest, I-I became terrified, had nightmares of her torturing my parents and of her killing me. After that I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat. I was living in fear and I just couldn't handle it. I became paranoid that she was watching my every move, listening to my every word..."

"That's how she operates Neville, she can sense fear- she thrives on it."

"I-I just...it all became too much and I began to think that being dead would be better than suffering-"

"_Nothing_ in the world of living is worse than being dead."

"Well I know that now."

"So your gran doesn't even know?"

"No...and I never wanted her to know. I had it all planned out- I-I didn't care how selfish it would have been. I mean considering my grandad offed himself and all, my gran just completely shut herself off from any memory of him after that...so I was going to eliminate all trace of myself from her memory...as if she had never had a grandson...I was tired of feeling nothing but pain. I just wanted some relief..."

"Well I for one am overjoyed that you failed."

"What was weird though," continued Neville, "is that I-I had planned this for weeks. I knew the curse like the back of my hand and was prepared to do myself in and when I went to do it I didn't hesitate- I wanted to die, but when I cast the curse it rebounded...it was as if someone else had counteracted the curse...only I was alone. So I tried again- and again and the same thing happened. I eventually grew tired of trying and failing that I gave up."

Remus' eyes widened.

"Was it the _Avada Kedavra_ curse?"

"No," replied Neville softly, "it was something a little more..._humane_ but it would have done the job just as quick."

Without saying another word the werewolf leaned forward and pulled the boy into his arms and held onto him tight.

Neville sighed and allowed for himself to be embraced, it felt nice to have someone- rather than try to talk sense into him or lecture him- just embrace him, and hold him as though a parent would their child. He slowly raised his arms, which had been like dead weights at his sides and wrapped them around the werewolf as he began to cry.

Neville shut himself off from everyone else and entered the room he'd be staying in for the night. He sat down on his bed and began sorting through everything in his knapsack.

He pulled out his father's journal and was about to read where he left off but when he opened the journal he gasped. It was empty! He frantically flipped through the pages and all of them were blank. How could this have happened?

With shaking hands he slowly placed the journal back into his knapsack.

What if Voldemort or someone else had somehow taken the information from his father's journal? No. That was impossible. He had had the journal with him this entire time- except for when Malfoy had snatched it- and then Snape for observation.

Neville's head began to spin.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"C-come in," whispered Neville.

It was Hermione. She gently closed the door behind her and sat down next to Neville.

"How are you?" she asked quietly.

"F-fine..."

"You don't look fine," she answered. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Everyone's been asking where you went off to. Sirius has made everyone a late night snack...would you care to join us?"

"I can't..."

"Why not?"

Neville sighed.

"This would be a lot easier if you'd just stay mad at me for all of the awful things I have been saying to you..."

"Or you could just tell me what you're _really_ thinking."

"Everything in my dad's journal is gone! It all just disappeared! Which- how is that possible?

Hermione's eyebrows scrunched together with theory.

"May I see it?" she asked.

Neville handed over his dad's journal and watched eagerly as Hermione sat next to him on the bed and flipped through it.

"This is rather peculiar..." she said aloud, "maybe it was written with a special sort of ink that disappears and reappears?"

"I don't think so..." answered Neville.

"Well let's go grab a bite to eat and then we can show Francis when he and the others return."

Neville groaned.

"What?" she questioned.

"_I'm not hungry_...I don't need constant supervision you know."

Hermione glared at him.

"_Someone_ has got to look after you if you aren't going to."

"Hermione I just want to be left alone."

"You aren't going to get any better..."

Suddenly someone else knocked on the door. It was Harry.

"Am I interrupting anything?"

"No," replied Hermione. "Maybe you can help me talk to Neville since he doesn't seem to want to listen to me."

"I am fine," muttered Neville.

Hermione shot a desperate look in Harry's direction and waited for him to jump in.

"Errr..." mumbled Harry awkwardly.

"You look awful..." continued Hermione, turning back to Neville. "Why can't you see how unhealthy you are right now?"

"Oh and you lot are standing here with a clean bill of health then?"

"Neville-"

"Look...I appreciate your concern Hermione but I don't-"

"If you get any thinner you are going to make dementors feel self-conscious," replied Harry.

Neville rolled his eyes.

"Really Neville," began Hermione worriedly. "You are disappearing right before our eyes..."

"_Not quickly enough apparently_," he muttered under his breath sarcastically.

Hermione caught what he said and narrowed her eyes on him.

"I know you don't like to hear what I have to say but you should just feel grateful that someone cares enough to say something."

"I have something I need to do..." Neville began, "I-I-"

But he never got to finish because Francis walked into the room.

"Francis you're back!" cried Hermione with joy. "How are the others?"

"Fine. They will be here soon. I just came back to check on Neville."

"You look like you've taken quite a few hits," replied Harry, surveying Francis.

"Excuse me- Harry and Hermione would you mind? I need a moment alone with Neville."

Hermione nodded as she and Harry got up and left.

"What is the matter?" asked Francis. "Remus told me you've been holed up in this room alone...you're isolating and I want to know why."

"My dad's journal-" began Neville as he tossed it to his uncle. "Everything that was written in it has disappeared!"

Francis picked it up and scanned through it, his eyes growing wide.

"We must go to St. Mungo's immediately."

"What?" asked Neville with confusion. "B-but-"

The next thing Neville knew they had apparated to an average looking, brick department store for muggles' clothing that was 'permanently' under renovation in London called Purge and Dowse. Neville cringed at the irony of the name and shuddered. He knew right where they were, he and his gran had stood in front of this building many times and each time they did, he felt a dark blanket of depression slowly begin to suffocate him.

He and Francis approached a mannequin in the shop window.

"We're here to see visit my parents on the fourth floor," replied Neville sadly.

The mannequin nodded and they walked through the window and found themselves at the St. Mungo's reception area.

Neville recognized the healer at the front desk immediately. Her name was Louise Hinderbolt and she smiled kindly at him, although the sadness behind her smile was not easily masked. She had known Neville since he was old enough to begin making visits.

"Why hello dear," she began, "Where is your grandmother?"

"She's a bit occupied at the moment..." replied Neville.

Louise's eyes grew wide as her eyes swept over Francis, who as Frank's identical twin bared a striking resemblance to how Frank used to look.

"Oh my-"

"I'm Frank's brother Francis...we've come here to pay he and Alice a visit."

"Oh but of course..." replied Louise. "Go on whenever you like although I must warn you, they have not been medicated today, so their behaviors may be rather...unpredictable."

Francis nodded and thanked Louise and he and Neville made their way to the fourth floor.

"I don't understand..." began Neville. "Why have we come here?"

Francis remained silent and they soon found themselves standing before room 413, neither too eager to enter. They both stood, contemplating who should enter first.

"Why don't you go inside first," coaxed Francis gently. "I'll follow in a couple of minutes. I do not want to alarm either of them. I imagine they aren't used to guests...let alone ones they do not clearly recognize."

"I-I've never been here without my gran..." whispered Neville.

"Go on," replied Francis. "I'll be right out here waiting. I think it would be nice for you to have some alone time with them."

"But what's the point?" asked Neville, trying hard not to get teary eyed. "It's not as if they know who I am anyway. And it's always the same thing...each time I come visit. Nothing ever changes."

"Oh but that is where you are wrong Neville," began Francis softly. "The Death Eaters may have taken their so called sanity, but one is never clearly void of their soul...deep down, somewhere inside of your parents..._they know_. It is just hidden where you can not visibly see. One day you will understand this."

Neville sighed and stood a moment longer to collect himself.

"Alright." Neville agreed.

Francis gave his shoulder a squeeze and Neville entered.

He held his breath as he slowly walked further into the room. It was small and everything was white. There were two separate beds that Frank and Alice slept on and a washroom where they were assisted with daily washings. There was a window which overlooked the grounds of the hospital, where Frank spent most of his time- just sitting and watching the outside world continue on without him. The idea depressed Neville so much he didn't think he could bear it, he turned to walk out but stopped himself as his mother slowly poked her head out of the curtain that surrounded her bed and teetered up to him with a lopsided grin on her face.

"Hi mum...it's me, Neville..." he whispered.

Neville tried to smile at her as she came closer to him but found it very difficult. The woman before him was nothing like the mother he had known from various pictures and from pensieve images. The reality of her fate had aged her greatly- so far beyond her actual years. Her hair had turned white and was long and thin- appearing so dry and brittle that it looked as though it could fall out at any moment's notice. Her gaunt face was lined with wrinkles and her eyes appeared sunken in and no longer held the sparkle that once lit up a room.

Neville still thought that despite all this that she was beautiful, in an odd way. Traces of her natural beauty had still remained with her.

"I just want to thank you...for everything you and dad have done to help guide me...even while being stuck here. I couldn't have done it without your help."

Alice reached for his hand and opened it, she placed a Droobles wrapper in his palm and closed his hand.

"_Thank you_," he whispered as he tucked it into his pocket where he would later put it with the rest he had collected from her from each visit. He had never had the heart to throw any of them away and imagined he had over three hundred wrappers.

"I just want you to know...I miss you both and think of you all the time. What I'm doing...is for you both and any other fallen wizards that never got the chance to fight. I-I want to make you both proud. I am out for justice and _I will_ get it- even if I have to give my life."

His mother stared at him, her eyes wide with a child-like innocence.

Neville sighed.

"I'm in grave danger mum," he whispered. "Voldemort is after _this_." Neville paused and pulled out the key from his pocket and held it out in front of his mother, at this her eyes grew even wider and her mouth opened in awe.

"You hid it for me to find...thank you for protecting it so well. Thank you for risking your life for our safety. You and dad are true heroes and I will make sure you both get your dues."

Neville watched in shock as his mother suddenly ran over to Frank's bed and tore open the drapes surrounding it. She drug Frank over to Neville and began to tug violently on Neville's sleeves. Neville watched in horror, not knowing what to do or say.

Neville stared at his father with sadness. The man's hair was long overdue for a trim and had gone completely white. His face was gaunt and his eyes sunken in, only they grew wide at the sight of the key in Neville's hand.

"Hello dad...um, Francis and I have come today because well, your journal has mysteriously gone blank...and I suppose Francis believes the answer is here..."

At just that moment, Neville heard a click and turned around just as the door opened and Francis entered. He stood back at first, simply watching and then slowly approached them.

"Frank...Alice," he began softly, nodding at them.

"They don't understand," began Neville. "_They're insane_," he hissed.

"Oh no," replied Francis, "_they understand_."

Francis gently took the key from Neville's grip and handed it to Frank.

"You _remember_, don't you Frankie?"

"So why are we here?" Neville asked his uncle.

"Even in his current condition your father is as brilliant as ever."

"I don't understand," began Neville.

"The reason your father's journal is blank is because he retracted all of the writing inside it and returned it to his mind. Which now makes your father a very valuable asset."

"But...but how did he do that?" asked Neville with astonishment.

"Only he knows," answered Francis. "He used to do the same thing when we were kids when he didn't want me snooping through it."

Neville and Francis watched as Frank toyed with the key in his hands- as if it were the first thing he'd touched in years. He looked up and stared at them with wonder.

"_He knows_," whispered Francis to Neville.

Alice went over to Francis and began tugging on his robe, so he followed her to her bed and sat down. Neville watched as she reached under her bed and pulled out an ordinary looking box, from inside it she pulled out dozens of envelopes. Francis slowly opened one and began to read the contents and after he had finished he broke down and began to cry. Alice pulled more things from the box and ran over to Neville. She handed him an old, black and white photograph of her and Frank as young parents, cradling an infant Neville between them. She pointed at the infant and then began to pat Neville furiously. He immediately began to feel himself choke up and willed himself not to cry in front of his parents.

So _they knew_ that he was their son- they had known all along.

She then handed him some old Daily Prophet clippings which told of various random achievements Neville had been rewarded during his earlier years at Hogwarts and also a clipping of his misadventure with Harry at the Department of Mysteries.

Neville walked over to Francis and sat next to him on his mother's bed.

"What are those?" he asked, eyeing the envelopes.

"Letters," answered Francis quietly, "letters I hadn't thought about in nearly twenty years. After Jessica left my family I wrote your parents letters and had them sent here...I never really thought they'd ever read them...but I sent them one on every holiday, their birthdays...see Neville, somewhere deep down in their bodies, your parents are still _in there_...they are just trapped."

Eventually Neville and Francis made their way back over to his parents who were still standing where they had left them. Neville gently took the key from his father and placed it back in his pocket.

"Will they be safe here?" asked Neville quietly. "You know, now that all of this information is with my father rather than in the journal?"

"No one knows about this," answered Francis. "They should be fine."

Neville nodded and cleared his throat.

"I think...I'm going to step out for a bit. I need time alone."

"Of course," replied Francis. "I'll be here."

Neville made his way out of his parent's room and began wandering around St. Mungo's. His head was spinning. He couldn't believe that after all of these years his parents had known he was their son. He immediately felt guilt for labeling them as nutters for so long. They were still his parents no matter what and he needed to honor them as so.

Eventually Neville found himself in another wing of the spell damage ward that he did not recognize. It wasn't until he caught a glimpse of the rooms that he realized he had entered a darker side of the hospital, as almost all of the rooms had bars on the windows and security standing guard. He peeked inside of one room and caught glimpse of someone standing near a window, holding a wand to their temple. Neville entered slowly.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Suddenly the person turned around and immediately fired their wand. Neville dodged the spell and fired one right back. It wasn't until a security wizard ran in after hearing the ruckus and turned on the light that Neville realized the mysterious person had been none other than Draco Malfoy.

"What is going on in here Mr. Malfoy?" asked the older wizard.

"Nothing," snapped Malfoy. "I was just in here, minding my own business when I was rudely interrupted and attacked for no reason."

"He attacked me first!" shouted Neville.

"Liar!" shouted Malfoy.

"Stuff it Malfoy! Leave it to you of all people to be alone in a dark room under suspicious circumstances!"

"You boys know each other?" asked the security wizard, his eyebrows raised.

"Unfortunately," muttered Neville.

"Well then...I'll leave you two to sort out your quarrel. Heed my warning though, any more spells start flying and I'll have to take you both in to our holding cell."

Neville nodded as the man left.

Neville hadn't seen Malfoy in quite a while and the other boy looked worn. His silver blonde hair was a disheavled mess, his grey eyes were darkened by the purple shadows that had settled beneath them.

"What are you doing here Malfoy?" spat Neville viciously.

"Oh so now you own the place?" Malfoy spat back.

"I've beaten you to a bloody pulp once...don't think I won't do it again."

Malfoy laughed cruelly.

"It doesn't matter...you'd be doing me a favor."

"I know what sort of things you and your family are associated with," began Neville darkly. "So I'm going to ask you...what is it you were you doing?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because if you don't I'll find out from someone who knows."

It was at that moment that Neville realized Malfoy was wearing a hospital gown under his cloak and had an admittance identification bracelet on his wrist. He couldn't believe he hadn't realized this before.

"Get out," growled Malfoy through grit teeth.

"Not until you tell me what you were doing with your wand!"

Neville was paranoid that Malfoy was sent here to retrieve the contents of his father's journal as he had failed miserably the first time he attempted to steal the journal itself.

"Security!" yelled Malfoy.

Neville got up calmly and closed the door.

"Why are you here?"

"I am not telling you anything."

"Then I suppose you won't have a problem telling Dumbledore? I'll send a patronus and he'll be here in seconds. I'm not too sure how Voldemort would respond to you communicating with his arch enemy...but I assume it wouldn't go down very well for you..."

At this Malfoy's face went white.

"You can't force me to do anything. And neither can that old kook."

"When you took my father's journal- why did you want it?"

"I wanted to read up on his life-" Malfoy muttered sarcastically. "_Why do you think_?"

Neville bit his lip.

"Look..." began Neville hurriedly. "I know what you and your family are...but can I ask if my cousin is okay? I know the Death Eaters have her somewhere."

"She's fine," muttered Malfoy.

"I don't care what happens to me," began Neville. "I just want my family and friends to be safe."

"_That's asking a lot_," replied Malfoy sharply.

"I'm not here to chit chat," began Neville. "I'm here because I want answers."

"Yeah? And what makes you think I'd be willing to spill it all out for _you _of all people?"

Neville thought about what Malfoy had said for a moment and mulled it over.

"Because I don't think you've quite sold your soul to the devil _just yet_...I believe there's a sliver of good in everybody...well, _almost _everybody. Maybe I'm wrong as I usually am but I believe everyone deserves a fair trial."

When Malfoy didn't answer, Neville continued.

"I was at my grandmother's house earlier and Jessica Bloodworth showed up with a bunch of Death Eaters. How did they know I was there? Who sent them?"

"I don't know let alone do I care."

"You're lying!" shouted Neville. "Of course you know!"

Malfoy gritted his teeth.

"I've been stuck here. I don't know anything."

"I don't believe you."

"I don't give a fuck what you do or say or believe!" shouted Malfoy, jumping up. "If it weren't for you coming in here I'd be nothing more than a cold corpse right now, which at the moment is the more preferable option rather than to face the fate I have waiting for me! But of course, being the screw up that you are you ruined everything for me!"

Neville stared at the other boy in shock.

"So you were about to off yourself when I walked in? But why?"

"It doesn't matter! I'm dead no matter what!"

"Why?"

Malfoy snickered darkly.

"I've got a target on my back...I'll never be able to walk out of another door without being fired at."

"The order can protect you," offered Neville. "If you cooperate with us..."

"I'm not about to run off into the arms of the order," muttered Malfoy. "I'd rather just waste away in here for the rest of my life."

Neville suddenly remembered what Remus had said to him earlier.

"Nothing in the world of living is worse than being dead and if you want to survive then you'll come with me."

"Not when you're in the mess that I am- only then does _being dead _start to look good."

"Only in your mind does it look good. Whatever it is...Dumbledore can help you."

"I don't want his help!" shouted Malfoy. "No one can help me!"

"That isn't true."

"How would you know? Huh? You're Neville fucking Longbottom! Sheltered your entire life, babied by your rich, old granny, praised upon and befriended by all of the greatest wizards and witches of our time...you're nothing more than a pansy ass, dim-witted, cowardly loser whose only trace of danger to date has been whether or not there is any slice of pie left!"

Neville bit his tongue and clenched his hands at his sides, leave it to Malfoy to cut deep with the insults, of course he'd throw out a fat joke.

"You don't know _anything_ about me Malfoy..."

"I don't want to know. I don't care."

Neville waited.

Malfoy walked back over to the window and gazed outside.

"I had one _crucial _task...to kill your cousin. She was of no use to the Dark Lord, he had no reason for keeping her alive. I was to torture and kill her- all to show my worth and dedication to him. Instead...I let her go and I had every Death Eater hot on my trail but I escaped, _barely_. My father was so shamed upon hearing of my betrayed to our lord that he hunted me down and beat me within an inch of my life- claiming that the only reason he didn't kill me himself was that he wanted the pleasure of watching Voldemort do it. The majority of my family, every Death Eater and Voldemort are out to spill my blood. All except for my mother, I have no one. She found me and brought me here where she thought I'd be safe. There is no escaping. I'm dead."

Neville stared at the other boy, his mouth open in shock.

"We can help you."

"I don't want help from anyone. I have failed to follow through with my orders from my lord and I must be a man and suffer the consequences."

"You don't have to do any of that! You can come with me and the order will protect you. Snape will look after you!"

Malfoy snickered and narrowed his eyes on Neville until they were slits.

"Being seen with Snape is even more of a death sentence. He has _never_ on our side...he's always been loyal to Dumbledore. He's a spy for the order...he's always been on _your_ side and my being seen under his protection would blow his cover indefinitely."

"B-but...how do you know?"

"Trust me..." began Malfoy, his eyes growing dark. "_I know_."

"So if you've known all this time he was never on your side...you had plenty of chances to rat him out...why didn't you?"

"I respect him," answered Malfoy simply. "I'm not going to have an honest man killed."

"Come with me," replied Neville hurriedly. "You'll be safe with us."

Neville tried to convince Malfoy to go with him but eventually gave up and left Malfoy alone. He warned a healer of his intentions to harm himself so he'd be kept on high watch.

When he returned to his parents' room Francis looked down at his watch.

"Where did you go?"

Neville told Francis everything that he had encountered with Malfoy to which Francis shook his head sadly.

"That Malfoy boy reminds me so much of myself during my darker days. I had a feeling there was more to that boy than what he's made out to be. He's a troubled boy raised by a family of Death Eaters...he never stood a chance."

"I tried to get him to come with us; I told him he'd be safe but he refused."

"Don't you worry, leave that to me. You go on back to grimmauld place and rest up."

"But wait...what about why we came here-"

"I've already taken care of that," smiled Francis kindly. "I will see you soon."

Neville nodded and apparated.

When Neville returned to grimmauld place the others had arrived shortly after, much to his relief, safe and sound. They had all appeared to be in pretty good shape despite Arthur, who was walking with a limp but otherwise looked well.

Ginny ran and hugged her family.

"I'm so glad you're all okay!" she cried.

"We're not out of the woods yet," replied Charlie warily, "the Death Eaters didn't go down easy...and they know we're together planning."

Augusta slowly approached Neville and it wasn't until then that he noticed she appeared very drained and her face was lost of all color. She had many tiny cuts all over her face, and her wrist- which she brought up to his cheek- looked to be broken. She was also slunched over as though she were in great pain, but she gave him a tiny smile and nod of approval.

"Gran! What did they do to you?"

"Don't worry about me love," she replied. "So long as you are safe- oh darling, what happened?" she asked, as she examined his swollen nose.

Suddenly there was a loud pop and the Weasley twins appeared.

"Sorry we were late in joining in on the fight," replied Fred.

"Yeah, we fended them off for quite awhile after you all had already left," added George.

"Bollocks Neville!" gasped Fred, "What happened to you?"

Neville had suddenly realized how he himself must have appeared, remembering that Ron had clocked him good just a little over an hour ago.

He blushed.

"I had it coming to me," he replied softly.

The others watched and waited for him to explain.

"Neville and I had a slight..._altercation_," answered Ron.

Sirius approached the others and offered them all some hot tea and ushered them all into the kitchen for some left-overs.

Neville, Harry, Ron and Hermione were the only ones who remained in the sitting room.

Neville sighed and made his way from the trio. He didn't feel as though he deserved to be in their company considering how he had gone off on Hermione earlier.

Moments later Neville heard footsteps behind him. It was Ron. He slowly approached Neville and cleared his throat.

"_I'm sorry_ mate..."

"Don't apologize. I deserved to be punched in the face...I've been a right prat."

"Oh no...I'm not sorry for hitting you! I'm just sorry I hit you _so hard_...didn't mean to do any actual damage...I just wanted the message to- you know, sink in."

Neville smirked.

"Don't worry...if I were you I would have hit me pretty damn hard too. Just like when I beat Malfoy to a pulp for insulting your family. If someone has it coming to them then so be it."

The boys stood in silence.

"So this _thing_ you have..." Ron began awkwardly. "I just don't _understand_ it."

"I_ don't _have a _thing_," corrected Neville.

Ron ignored him.

"I just- why would you want to starve yourself? Or puke up what you do eat? That's just _gross_ mate..."

Neville remained silent.

"I mean, I know girls do stuff like that...because they think they are fat or whatever...but a bloke? We aren't meant to worry about stuff like that mate!"

Neville simply shrugged.

"So? What goes on in your head when you do these things? I just don't understand why anyone would want to deprive themselves of food...and _on purpose_. We're blokes! We love food!"

Neville sighed.

"I don't know...it feels good. I can't explain it."

"Why would killing yourself feel good?"

Suddenly something clicked inside of Neville's brain. He_ was _killing himself. Who would have thought Ron Weasley of all people would help him come to realize that.

Ron continued.

"Hermione tried talking to me about you..._forever_ ago but I didn't listen. I didn't believe her. I never knew blokes dealt with issues like this...that is probably why no one suspected anything. I feel awful. I mean, I thought it was weird that you were _never_ hungry or always in the washroom puking but I had no clue what was going on...we all just get so caught up in our own lives that sometimes when the people you are closest to are in trouble you don't even notice. Sorry mate."

Neville scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"What are you talking about? I'm fine."

Ron eyed him with concern.

"You look _terrible_ mate...and the swollen nose and two black eyes I gave you doesn't help."

Neville sighed.

"That's nothing new...I've never been much to look at."

"No. I don't mean like that you're ugly or anything. You just look..._sick_."

"_Wonderful_," muttered Neville.

"Ginny really loves you," continued Ron. "And right now she is hurting. She doesn't know what to do for you. She needs you and right now you really aren't in any sort of position to be looking after her when you can't even look after yourself."

Neville sighed again. As dense as Ron could sometimes come off, he most certainly had a very valid point. How could Neville be a good boyfriend to Ginny when he couldn't even be good to himself? How could he take care of her when he had no energy to even care for himself?

"I know what you're saying," agreed Neville.

"Look Neville, I know you and I haven't ever really been very close...but now that you are practically part of the family and are dating Ginny and all I'd like to change that- regardless I've always admired you."

"_Really_?" asked Neville incredulously.

"Yeah...I mean, ever since we all learned about your parents' fate and how brave you are for continuing to uphold their legacy. And for when you stuck up for my sister and beat Malfoy's face in, how you stuck up for her to Dean- _your own friend_- and how you took the cruciatus curse from Bellatrix in our fifth year. You may not remember but when we were at the Department of Mysteries you were the only one left standing by Harry. I also admire you for the fact that you are so good to my sister and that you respect her and don't just want to get her into bed. You care about her as a person. You care about _everyone_, even the people who have wronged you."

"Wow...those are some of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me..."

"And that's a shame because you are quite a good bloke."

"Thanks Ron," replied Neville with a blush.

"Yeah...and anytime you want to talk about anything, bloke to bloke- I'm your guy."

Neville smiled and Ron offered his hand, which Neville took and shook firmly.

When Francis returned from St. Mungo's he gathered everyone together and cleared his throat.

"I would like everyone to know that Draco Malfoy is now under official protection of the order-"

"WHAT?" cried Ron and the twins in unison.

"That slimey maggot can't be trusted!" shouted Fred.

"He's a Death Eater!" added Ron.

Francis held up his hand and waited.

"Draco was admitted to St. Mungo's by his mother out of fear for his safety. He defied Voldemort by refusing to kill Cornelia, the one task assigned to him. He is with Severus now under close watch."

"Does Dumbledore know?" asked Harry.

"Yes. He believes having Draco stay with Severus will make him feel more at ease and he will be willing to provide us with some crucial information regarding Voldemort."

"That poor boy," began Molly sadly. "I know he was always so nasty from what Ron and Harry have told us but he's still just a child who was horribly misguided..."

Francis nodded in agreement.

"It is getting rather late and we all have a long day ahead of us. So any of you tired enough, feel free to head on to bed. We will hold an order meeting first thing tomorrow morning to discuss where we go from here."

Everyone quietly split up and began conversing in small groups all except for Augusta, who had been sitting alone sipping on some tea. Francis cautiously made his way over to her and delicately cleared his throat.

"Mind if I sit down?"

Augusta- without looking up- motioned for him to sit.

Francis stood for a moment, in a second lasting daze of surprise that she had allowed such a thing. He sat down and watched his mother closely.

She hadn't aged much since their estrangement, she looked as elegant and sophisticated as ever. The only differences he could immediately detail were her slowly graying hair fading to white and a few more wrinkles around her eyes.

"Augusta..." he began, waiting to see if he'd get a reaction out of her, "_Mother_-"

She immediately looked up at him, her brown eyes burning into his.

"I will not force anything upon you that you do not wish to reciprocate- the only thing I ask of you is that we both put aside our differences so we can discuss Neville."

Augusta's lips were pursed and she watched him with anticipation.

"Continue," she replied.

"He needs all the help he can get," continued Francis, "he is _so lost_...and so fragile. I just- had you any idea at all of his declining health? Did he ever come to you for support?"

"Neville never confided in me about anything," replied Augusta softly. "I just assumed he was taking his health into perspective- considering he'd been quite the little porker growing up."

Francis frowned.

"How do you feel about this? How do you feel that he managed to hide this all from you? And for so long? He hid it well- from everyone."

Augusta remained silent and Francis continued.

"We are all worried for him. He isn't in the right mentality...what he is doing and thinking is _not _normal behavior. Do you understand?"

Augusta brought her cup up to her lips and sipped her tea without a response.

"Are you even listening to me?" he asked sadly.

"Of course."

Francis sighed.

"Do you really hate me so much that you can not even hold a conversation with me that doesn't even concern either of us?"

"I do not hate you Francis. I have never hated you."

"But you practically disowned me. How is that not a form of hatred?"

"You found your way back to me didn't you?" she replied.

Francis opened his mouth to speak but no words came out.

"I never disowned or abandoned you- despite what you may think. Was I seething with anger, disappointment and embarrassment? Of course, enough to not want to talk to you? Yes. But you will always be my son. I had never forgotten about you. I knew you'd find your way back."

Francis smiled.

"I'm glad I came back. I was so tired of running away. I'll never forgive myself for my stupidity and selfish ways back when I first met Jessica. I'm so sorry mum, for all that I put you and dad through...I thought of coming back...after I read about dad's death, but I just couldn't bring myself to."

"Your father was never the same after you left...and then of course Frank and Alice were attacked not long after that. It ruined him."

Francis reached out and grabbed his mother's hand.

"Speaking of Frank and Alice...Neville and I payed them a visit earlier."

Augusta's expression remained unchanged.

"Oh?" she simply mustered.

"Yes...it was quite a shock for me to see them in their current state."

Augusta remained silent.

"It just goes to show you," continued Francis. "That life is too short and too precious to take advantage of...because at any moment, any of your loved ones could...well, the important thing is that we have each other now."

They sat in silence for a few moments and then the conversation returned to Neville.

"Mum, what are we going to do about Neville? He refuses to eat- and if he does he'll run off to throw it up."

"If I had it my way I'd tie him down and feed him myself," mumbled Augusta.

"Quite honestly that is not an option," answered Francis. "What do you think Frank and Alice would do if they knew?"

Augusta shook her head sadly.

"Neville's always been...cause for great concern," she began softly. "From us believing he was a squib early in life, to his studies and his general lack of focus...and just like your father- he has always bottled his emotions deep inside of him...I suppose with all of that I should have seen something like this happening."

"It isn't your fault mum," Francis reassured her. "His disorder has nothing to do with you."

Augusta attempted to give a tiny smile.

"I've been hard on all of my boys..." she replied quietly.

"You had to be...how else would we have been sculpted into the fine men we've become?"

"Oh Francis..." sighed Augusta, as she smiled at her son.

"I love you mum."

After awhile things began to settle down and most of the others had gone to bed, only Sirius, Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Neville remained awake in front of the fire.

"So what now?" asked Harry. "Voldemort has to be ready to attack...but are we ready?"

"We will discuss that tomorrow," answered Sirius.

"I'm ready," stated Neville boldly. "I've never felt more ready for anything in my life."

"Good boy," replied Sirius with a wide grin. "That's the attitude."

Oddly enough, throughout most of their conversation Hermione had remained silent, and considering she usually had much to contribute it was a bit out of character for her.

"Everything okay?" asked Harry.

"Yes," she replied softly. "My mind is just a bit preoccupied at the moment."

Only Neville knew the real reason why she had been so quiet. After he and Ron had reconciled she cornered him and demanded that he at least take a bite of her snack and after he had refused she got angry with him and he went off on her again, his insults even more brutal than the last. She hadn't told anyone about him going off on her- especially not Ron, considering what happened just hours before.

Neville cleared his throat.

"Hermione...may I speak to you in private...please?"

She nodded without a word and followed him into one of the empty studies.

"I am so sorry..." he began. "I'm not being a very good friend nor am I being a very good person and it isn't fair to you- or anyone for that matter. This isn't who I am...you know that, right?"

Hermione sighed.

"Of course I know that Neville but your outbursts are getting worse. I mean, how long until you just snap completely? Hmmm? Then what?"

"I've just got to get a handle on it."

"What you need to get a handle on is your eating disorder. Then none of this would be happening, you'd be strong and healthy and in the right mentality for war."

Neville grit his teeth, and breathed out slowly through his nose as he could feel another outburst coming on.

"Why do you keep calling it that? It's..."

"Because that is what you have. It's nothing to be ashamed of, Neville. Everybody has _something_ that they need a little extra help dealing with. But you must understand that we're trying to help you. We want you to get better so you can _be you_ again, not only that but so you can lead your army into victory whenever Voldemort decides to attack-"

"_My army_?" interrupted Neville with a chuckle. "That's a bit much i'nit?"

Hermione smiled.

"Not at all. You are a born leader Neville, whether you realize it or not, just as much as Harry. Although, he's always gotten all of the credit but you led the D.A. whenever Harry couldn't. You led your cousins and _Snape_, of all people on the quest for the key and now you're going to be leading us, along with Harry, in the fight against Voldemort, to restore our world to the way it should be. I believe in you but you have to believe in yourself too."

Neville nodded in agreement.

"Thanks. I needed to hear that."

"I know I might not always show it considering I'm caught up in all of Harry and Ron's nonsense most of the time, but I care about you_ so_ much, Neville. I mean, you were the first person to talk to me on the Hogwarts express, do you remember? You had lost Trevor and were frantic."

She laughed.

Neville smiled at her.

"Well," he began, feeling a slight blush coming on. "You were my first kiss...hell, you were my first girlfriend!"

"Let's make a deal," she began. "I promise that I will stop nagging you and getting on your case from now on...if you can promise me that you will try to eat a little something here and there. I understand that it's going to be hard but you need to keep what little strength you have- I realize now that only you can make the decision to get better...and I hope that you make that decision soon. You have so many people who _care_ about you and who _need _you..."

Neville smiled and pulled her into a tight hug.

After he and Hermione had finished talking, Ginny had already retreated to the room she'd be staying in. He excused himself for the night and slowly made his way to her room.

He rapped lightly on the door until he heard her sweet voice invite him in from the other side.

"Hey," she smiled. "I wasn't expecting to see you again tonight.

Without a word he sat next to her on her bed and held her tight. He kissed her forehead and gave her a trail of kisses down her neck. She gently pushed him back as her eyes went wide.

"_Alright_- who are you and what have you done with Neville Longbottom?"

He smiled mischievously.

"How do I know that _you are really you_?" he asked. "I may have to do some _investigating_..."

Ginny rasied an eyebrow and smirked.

"What has gotten into you?"

"Nothing," he replied innocently.

"That's why I love you," began Ginny. "You are just too damn sneaky for your own good."

"I just thought we could...you know- have a little _fun_ before I go to bed?"

Ginny watched him with eager eyes.

"What is your definition of _fun_?"

"Whatever you want it to be," he began, "although my particular idea of fun is..._this_!"

He suddenly began to tickle her. Ginny squealed and begged him to stop but he would not let up. She began to scoot away from him until she fell off of her bed and he easily pinned her down and continued to tickle her until her face went completely red from laughing non-stop.

"Please!" she begged in between desperate gasps of air. "Stop! Please! I can't breathe!"

"Not until you say the secret word!"

"What secret word!"

"Oh I don't know..." teased Neville.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, Neville! Stop it!"

Ginny was in a fit of hysterical giggles and Neville smiled and finally surrendered.

"Now that I've got you in a good mood...I'd like to talk to you on a more personal note."

Neville helped her back up onto the bed and began to pace nervously.

"I'm sorry about everything. I-I've been so preoccupied with myself that I haven't had time to think about how all of my issues have been affecting _you_. I haven't been a very good boyfriend...I hope you can forgive me."

"Neville- of course I can. All I want is for you to get better."

He sighed.

"I-I need help...I don't know exactly where all of this turned from bad to worse...I can't fight like this..."

"Oh Neville!" cried Ginny as she leapt from the bed into his arms and kissed him. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that!"

"I-I just...after seeing my parents...and the state they're in- and how weak and helpless they are...trapped in their own bodies- I don't want to be like that! I want to live life freely and not feel as though I'm a prisoner within myself..."

"We'll all help you Neville. Whatever it takes!"

Neville began to choke up and tears spilled from his eyes.

"I've never really...I've just been through so much and have been so worried about how to handle all of this that has been brought to me...and on top of all that...I lost control of myself along the way and I don't know how to get that back."

"I'll help you," whispered Ginny. "We'll get it back."

He sighed and sat down on the bed, placing his head in his hands.

Ginny sat next to him and began to rub his back.

"Tomorrow is a new day," she whispered. "I have a feeling we'll be getting some long awaited answers to a lot of questions. Especially with Malfoy being thrown into the mix."

They talked for a bit longer and layed back, holding each other until they both drifted off to sleep.

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the long delay! I've been so busy and with me being easily distracted as is- I got off task with this a little bit! Again, as always I want to thank all of you for your support and interest! This story wouldn't be what it is without the readers and their awesome, inspiring and encouraging reviews! You guys are great! I know this chapter is a little tame compared to some of the others, in terms of action and Neville's eating disorder but trust me, things are about to get _intense_. Without giving anything away, I can definitely tell you that this isn't the last we'll see of Frank and Alice. Much more to come in chapter 31! More revelations! More action! More drama! And more romance! ;)

Please read and review!


	32. Manipulation

**Chapter 31: **Manipulation

"_Where is the Longbottom girl_?"

"I don't know. It all happened so fast- I-"

Draco Malfoy began to pace fervently, his arms swinging nervously at his sides and then up to grab his head, as though to keep it from falling off.

"_Tell me again_, Mr. Malfoy," drawled Snape. "_Exactly as you remember_."

"I knew it was coming- something _so terrible _that I would have to do to to prove my commitment..._to him_. My first task- in accordance to him, was a _menial _one- I was to hunt and kill a unicorn and bring back its blood to tide him over in his weakened state but I just-"

Malfoy paused and gave a heavy sigh.

"I completely turned my back on the idea and when my father found out he was..."

He waited.

"_Furious_ doesn't even begin to describe what he was. He wrote me a letter on how I had failed our lord. I was supposed to have been punished to the fullest extent but I guess my father pulled some strings and I was given another chance to redeem myself. When Longbottom's cousin was captured I was not just ordered to kill her, but to torture her- endlessly and inhumanely, simply for his amusement before finishing her off. Instead, I let her go and she fled and that's when I ran for it. My mother eventually came into contact with me and admitted me to St. Mungo's for my safety."

"What are they planning?" asked Snape.

"I don't know..." muttered Malfoy.

"_Do not _lie to me Draco," began Snape firmly.

"I just told you. _I don't know_."

"You've already turned your back on them Draco. You owe them _nothing_."

Malfoy stopped pacing for a moment and turned to stare at his House Head and mentor darkly.

"_You have no idea_," he began, his grey eyes sparking with such darkness that Snape was momentarily stunned.

"I owe them _everything_-" he continued.

"Stupid boy," spat Snape cruelly, as he advanced toward him. "Have you not obtained anything of importance these past seven years?"

"You don't understand-"

"_Of course _I understand!" Snape interrupted, his patience beginning to wear thin. "Just because you bear his mark- that means _nothing_, it is about how you choose to fight. You either fight for him or against him, there is no in between."

Malfoy sneered.

"Easy for _you_ to say..."

"You know _nothing_, boy..." hissed Snape so quietly that Malfoy discovered the hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end. "You have not even begun to witness what he is capable of. What you have witnessed...that is merely _child's play_."

Malfoy cringed.

"You know more than you'd like me to believe- don't you Mr. Malfoy?"

Malfoy crossed his arms over his chest and glared.

Snape grabbed the boy by his elbow and brought his face dangerously close, so close that the tips of their noses were touching.

"_You knew_...who orchestrated the attacks both at Frighning Hook when Longbottom's cousin was taken and then at Longbottom's home soon after."

Malfoy scoffed and smirked.

"Of course I knew! What do you take me as?"

Snape scowled but allowed for the boy to speak.

"Jessica Bloodworth _knew _every step you all took, you were _never_ safe. To her, it was all a matter of planning for the right moment to attack. She had it all planned out from the beginning..._every detail_. In fact, the only thing that went awry was when I spoiled her plans by letting her daughter go. She was going to send a ransom letter to Longbottom, seeking out the key for her safe return...only she never had any intentions of letting _her own daughter _out alive. She didn't care- the only thing she cares about is getting her hands on that key and keeping it for herself. She has no intentions of delivering it to her father or the dark lord."

Snape watched the boy with peaked interest but remained silent.

"Jessica has been tracking her family for years through the rings she gave them...that's how she knew you were all at Frighning Hook."

Snape took a moment to ponder about what the young boy had just revealed to him. Now rather than just Voldemort to worry about, there was also Althalos and Jessica- all of whom were working against each other, each wanting the key for their own selfish desires.

"What are they planning, Draco? You _must_ tell me."

Malfoy didn't immediately respond, instead he let the silence linger, as if deciding whether or not he was going to comply with his long-term mentor.

"The plan isn't set in stone- or at least it wasn't when I was aware of it. Jessica and her father were planning to raid and overturn the ministry tonight. My father was going to release the prisoners and dementors of Azkaban and send them all to St. Mungo's. They believe that if Longbottom catches wind that his parents are in trouble, he'll run to their rescue where they can easily kill him and take the key. Then Voldemort and his army plan to go after Potter."

At this Snape's eyes grew wide.

"Draco," he began hurriedly, "I know you and Potter and Longbottom have had your differences but I need you to set it all aside for the time being. I need you to listen to me. I need you to stand by Longbottom, he'll resist you but you must be forceful in his attempts to dismiss you. I need you to take him to the _Isle of Mors _so he can destroy the key."

Draco's mouth fell open and he shook his head furiously.

"No- no! I won't do it!"

"Draco, if we stand any chance you must!"

"I won't go there!"

"You will do as I say!" shouted Snape.

Draco remained silent.

"Come," beckoned Snape. "We must report to the order immediately."

Neville woke up and stretched. He smiled as he saw Ginny was still nestled up to him, her arms around his waist. Her red hair disheveled and covering her face.

He gently pried her arms away and crawled out of bed- slowly- as not to wake her.

He quietly opened the door and shut it behind him and followed the sound of voices, which were coming from the kitchen.

"Well good morning, Neville!"

Neville greeted everyone with a half-grin and sat down.

"Just in time for breakfast," replied Sirius, setting a plate down in front of him.

"Oh...why thank you," he replied with forced enthusiasm.

He observed the room. Remus and Tonks were deep in conversation toward the back of the kitchen, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred and George were all finishing their breakfast. His gran was fussing with Maitland over his _"ridiculous and unsightly body prods,"_ as she was calling his piercings. And before Neville even had a chance to survey what he'd be forced to shove down his throat, Francis walked into the room with an envelope and handed it to Neville.

"It's addressed to you. Just arrived by owl."

Neville secretly rejoiced and jumped up to read its contents in private.

He carefully opened the envelope and the letter read as follows.

_Mr. Neville A. R. Longbottom, _

_This letter is to inform you of your parents', Mr. Franklin B. Longbottom and Mrs. Alice J. Longbottom's miraculous and unexpected recoveries from their spell induced injuries. It is upon their request to see you immediately. _

_Sincerely,_

_Agnes Mungo,_

_Lead Healer and Current Official of St. Mungo's Hospital_

_for Magical Maladies and Injuries_

Neville's eyes grew wide with disbelief as he reread the letter at least twenty more times before he ran back into the kitchen.

"My parents are healed!" He shouted, clasping the letter to his chest.

Everyone stopped to look at him, each cautiously eyeing one another.

"I've been sent a letter from St. Mungo's! They want to see me!"

"Neville," began Francis warily, "I-" he paused, "may I have a look?"

Neville handed the letter to his uncle and ran over to his gran.

"Oh dear...you must be sick with the fever," she tsked, as she placed a hand on his forehead.

Neville pried her hand off.

"Gran! Did you not just hear what I said?"

"Darling," she began quietly. "Why don't you go eat your breakfast before it gets cold."

"Something isn't right about this," said Francis, as he read over the letter once more.

"I have to go! I have to go see for myself..." argued Neville.

"Neville...we have to be sure this isn't some sort of set up."

"It is rather peculiar," added Sirius, "that they would owl something of this nature. And to take into consideration, how they would know that you are here at Grimmauld place."

"It is something to be cautious of," agreed Remus.

Neville stared at everyone with discontent. Here he was again, actually excited about something only to have everyone else tell him differently.

"Why can't any of you actually be happy for me?"

"It's not that we aren't," began Francis, "It's just..." he sighed and thought of the right words to say. "Neville," he began again, "the likelihood of your parents recovering...is almost next to impossible...which is why we are all a little skeptical"

Neville began shaking his head angrily.

"_Anything is possible_," he retorted sharply.

Augusta sighed.

"Neville dear, go on and shower and get dressed. We will head to St. Mungo's immediately and get this all sorted out. It must be some kind of misunderstanding."

Neville had never been happier to abide by his grandmother. Everyone was so caught up in what he had just told them that no one even had time to process that he had managed to get out of eating. He quickly ran into the washroom to shower.

"So what should we make of this?" asked Francis.

"It is probably some hoodlum's idea of a nasty joke," replied Augusta. "Merlin knows it has happened to us before. I don't have the heart to tell the poor boy not to be expecting anything."

"Would you like me to go with you?" offered Francis.

"That will not be necessary," answered Augusta. "It will not take long to settle."

Suddenly there was a pop and an anxious Charlie Weasley appeared before them.

"The ministry is being attacked!"

Ron, Fred and George all jumped up.

"Dad!" shouted Ron.

"He's fine," answered Charlie. "He and mum are safe. I've already alerted Dumbledore. I just wanted to make sure that none of you were caught up in the battle."

"Oh for fuck's sake..." muttered Fred.

"I want you all to stay here. I'll be back to check in later."

"Wait- where are you going?" asked George.

"Back to fight, of course."

"What- no! Not without us you aren't!"

"No- it's too dangerous," argued Charlie.

"Count us in!" shouted Tonks, volunteering herself and Remus.

"I'm there!" echoed Maitland.

There was another pop as Charlie disappeared followed by five more pops as Maitland, Fred, George, Tonks and Remus followed.

Hermione stood up and grabbed Ron's shoulder tightly.

"Are you going too?"

"I've got to..."

Hermione nodded and squeezed his hand.

Harry stood up.

"_Don't even think about it Harry_," warned Sirius. "You are staying right here."

There was one final pop as Ron disapparated.

"What can we do?" asked Hermione.

"I want you the rest of you to stay here," answered Sirius.

Fifteen minutes later Neville reappeared and looked around the now less embodied kitchen.

"What's going on? Where is everyone."

"There's been an attack at the ministry," answered Francis.

"Neville are you ready?" asked Augusta.

"Do you think it is wise to go right at this moment?" asked Francis. "I mean, the ministry is under attack...who knows what else is going on."

Augusta huffed and straightened herself to stand even taller.

"There is _nothing _out there that I can't handle."

"Just be careful mum. Let me know as soon as you arrive."

When they arrived at St. Mungo's everything was in a disarray and not a single person was in sight.

"What in Great Merlin's name is the meaning of this?" mumbled Augusta.

Neville suddenly had a very bad feeling.

"Gran..." he muttered. "Stay behind me."

They quickly traveled throughout the hospital and found that it had for the most part been deserted. As if everyone had left in quite a hurried panic.

Neville's heart began to pound as he realized his parents had to be among those who had vanished. He shivered and realized that he could see his breath in front of him. It was as though there were dementors creeping amongst them, only he hadn't seen any.

He broke into a run as he pulled his gran along behind him.

When they arrived at room 413 his heart dropped. The door had been blown off and the room had been completely ransacked, his parents nowhere to be found.

"Oh no!" He shouted. "Gran! Where could they be?"

"Do not panic darling. There has got to be a perfectly good explanation for this."

"Good explanation!" He shouted. "Why are you so calm when mum and dad are missing! The door has been blown off it's hinges! That doesn't spark any concern with you at all?"

Suddenly he heard footsteps and voices coming down the hall.

"Quick gran, in here!" he hissed, as he pulled her into the room and threw them both under one of the overturned beds. There was just enough space underneath where he could peek out and see dozens of feet walk past the room.

"Has anyone checked in here yet?" a voice called out.

Neville could feel his heart pounding in his throat as a pair of feet stepped into the room and began walking around, dangerously close to where they hid.

He held his breath and clutched his gran tightly.

After walking around the room for a few minutes the footsteps suddenly stopped.

"OBLITO!"

Suddenly there was an ear shattering boom as the stranger's spell caused the other abandoned bed to explode into millions of tiny pieces.

Neville knew he had to do something. He couldn't just hide and allow this person to blow them to smithereens.

He leapt up and cast his wand.

"EFFLECTUM!" he bellowed.

A jet of bright orange light shot out of his wand and hit the Death Eater right in the chest and he flew out the door, slamming into the stone wall in the hallway.

Neville helped his gran up and they ran out of the room.

"There they go!" someone shouted. "Get them!"

He heard the footsteps gaining speed on them and he panicked. How long could they keep running? How long could his gran last?

There was no way he was going to get his gran killed. Without thinking twice he immediately came to a halt. His gran stared at him with confusion. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight and kissed her on the cheek.

"I love you, gran."

And with that he pointed his wand at her.

"Evanesco!"

As soon as she had vanished he kept his wand in place and muttered the rest of the chant.

"_Termino libero transporto ut grimmauld place_."

He knew he would really hear it from his gran later about sending her off against her will but it couldn't be helped. He wanted to keep her safe.

He quickly made his way down to the basement, hoping he'd lose the majority of the Death Eaters that were following him, but he was wrong. They followed him down and there were even more of them than there had been before.

Neville wasted no time sprinting off down the long corridor. Long sweat-drenched strands of his hair kept flying into his eyes, which stung like hell but he didn't have time to brush his hair away. He had to keep going.

A shooting pain began to strike in his chest and his sides, his heart was pounding to the point of eruption and he felt as if his knees were about to give out but just thinking about how far he's come. He wasn't about to give up- not now, not ever.

He began to pick up speed and followed the sharp turn of the corridor. He could still hear the heavy steps of the Death Eaters rapidly gaining on him.

Eventually he was beginning to slow down enough to the point where the Death Eaters began firing curses at him and yet miraculously they had all missed.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" bellowed one of the Death Eaters.

Suddenly Neville lost his balance and tripped, he tumbled forward and his palms hit the cold, cement floor but he pushed himself back up and continued running.

"SOMEONE CURSE HIM! HE'S GETTING AWAY!"

More curses began firing off at Neville, all but barely missing him. It was almost as if Neville was being protected by an invisible body shield and everything thrown at him just effortlessly bounced off.

Neville continued running until he could run no more, _literally_- he had reached a dead end.

'_No, no, no!'_

A giant, stone wall stood before him. He looked to his left and then to his right for other options but there were none. _They had him_- the Death Eaters had him.

"There he is! It's okay, we've got him! It's a dead end!" shouted one of the Death Eaters who was way ahead of the others and was now closing in on Neville.

"Well then hurry and grab him!" shouted another.

Neville tightened his grip on his wand and waited.

The Death Eater stopped a few feet away from Neville and stood in the middle of the corridor, ensuring that Neville could not escape. Neville could see the emerging shadows of the other Death Eaters steadily growing and as they did Neville backed up against the stone wall and pressed himself to it.

They had arrived. At least fifteen Death Eaters now stood before Neville- like a thick, black wall.

"Now...there will be_ no_ more running," the main Death Eater warned in a low, raspy voice. "If you try to run again you will earn yourself a special place right here along with your dear old mummy and daddy. Am I understood?"

"What have you done with them?" he shouted.

The Death Eater ignored him.

"I_ said _am I understood?" he murmured darkly, walking up to Neville and grabbing his chin, forcing his head up. He planted his other arm firmly against the wall just beside Neville's head.

Neville squinted up into the Death Eater's black hood. It was too dark in the corridor so he couldn't make out a face.

The Death Eater tightened his grip on Neville's chin and jerked his head up further.

"Answer me, boy!"

"_Yes_." Neville hissed.

"Good. Now that that is settled we can get down to business."

The Death Eater released Neville and walked back over to the other Death Eaters.

"Give us the key and we'll make sure no harm comes to you."

"Like I'm supposed to believe that!" scoffed Neville, surprising himself with his boisterous attitude, especially toward Death Eaters.

"Either you hand over the key willingly or you will have left us no choice but to _take_ it from you."

Neville stepped away from the wall and began to advance toward the Death Eaters.

"What if I told you I didn't have the key?" he began quietly.

"What exactly do you take us as, boy? We_ know_ you have the key."

Neville could hear his heart pounding in his ears. It was now or never.

Neville began to gather up the vigor for what he was about to do.

"So what is it going to be?" the Death Eater questioned.

Neville focused on every bad moment that had ever taken place in his life, every disappointment and every failure. Now was his time to prove to himself that he _was_ worth something and that he_ wasn't_ a nobody, but rather a somebody who wasn't afraid anymore. A somebody who was_ finally_ living up to the family name.

A year ago if Neville had been trapped in a corner with over a dozen Death Eater's blocking his only way of escape, he would have panicked himself into a premature heart attack. While there ultimately looked to be no escape, he was not ready to forfeit the fight, at least not until he was cold and dead. He would fight until the end.

He thought of his parents and saw them wasting away in St. Mungo's over the years, prisoners in their own bodies. What would they have done? They would have kept going. Neville was sure of it.

His gran was right. His parents had given up their health and sanity for not only for their family but for the good of the entire wizarding world. They were heroes and now was Neville's chance to make them proud, even if in the end that meant him having to share their tragic fate.

Neville took a deep breath and slowly reached into his trouser pocket.

"So...if I give you the key, does that mean you will let me go?" he asked innocently.

The Death Eater before Neville took a step forward and with a quick nod of his wide hood, reached out his hand.

"Yes. Now hand over the key."

Neville's heart was beating even faster; the sound of it drumming in his ears was like counting down a time bomb.

"How do I know you'll let me go? Why should I trust any of you?"

The Death Eater grabbed Neville around the neck and shoved him into the wall.

"Quit wasting our time, boy!"

Neville squirmed and choked desperately beneath the Death Eater's iron grip. He tried to pry the Death Eater's hand away but it was no use.

"Now...let us try this _again_," began the Death Eater releasing Neville and stepping back.

Neville sputtered and gasped trying to catch his breath.

"Hand over the key."

"Tell the others," huffed Neville through long, uneven breaths, "to throw down their wands."

"Fine. You heard the boy. Throw down your wands."

The other Death Eaters began murmuring quietly amongst themselves as they all threw their wands to the ground.

"_Now_," began Neville, speaking rather calmly considering the situation he was in. "Give them to me so I know that you'll keep your word."

The Death Eater kicked the wands over to Neville and he kicked them aside.

It was now or never. Neville had to act fast or he'd never make it out of this.

"OBLITO!" he bellowed, all of their wands exploded and shards were flying everywhere. He aimed his own wand toward the Death Eaters.

"DISTINGUO!"

The wall of Death Eaters broke down as they flew back from the blast of his spell. He abruptly broke into a run and surprisingly barreled his way through the few who were still left standing, catching them completely off guard.

He pointed at the ground with his wand as he ran and muttered a spell.

Gallons of water spewed out of the wand and the Death Eaters who continued to chase him slipped and collapsed on top of each other.

Apparently one Death Eater had been paying attention because the next thing Neville knew he felt something heavy collide into his back and tackle him from behind.

Neville's face met the hard, cement floor with so much force that he was temporarily blinded. He couldn't see anything. He could feel blood ooze out of his face.

"GOT HIM!"

Neville could feel the weight of the Death Eater on his back shifting so he took this chance to try and escape. He began to furiously kick his legs and began swinging his arms and fought to turn over but the Death Eater was very strong.

Neville could hear the others approaching.

"So what are we going to do with him now?" taunted one of the Death Eaters.

"I gave him a fair warning, so now it looks like we are going to have to do this the _hard _way…" replied the main Death Eater.

And with that Neville's wand was plucked out of his hands and his arms were twisted painfully behind his back.

Neville drew in a sharp breath.

"_Oh how dreadful of me_, am I hurting you? This is nothing, boy. Just you wait."

The Death Eater held Neville's wrists together as he muttered a spell. A long, thin cord snaked its way out of his wand and began to slink itself tightly around Neville's wrists.

The Death Eater stood up and kicked Neville over onto his back.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked.

By now, Neville's vision had finally returned although things were still a bit fuzzy. He squinted up at the dark, towering figure.

"Allow me to introduce myself…" he continued. He kneeled down next to Neville while the others stepped back and watched.

The Death Eater then proceeded to remove his hood to reveal a head full of long, silvery blonde hair that fell into his face. He had pale grey eyes that held a feeling of coldness, an eerie coldness Neville was very familiar with elsewhere. The man also had a long, pale face with a pointed chin. Suddenly it clicked, Neville recognized this man.

"Lucius Malfoy," he replied, a twisted grin mounting on his face, "the pleasure is all mine, Longbottom."

Lucius grabbed a handful of Neville's hair and yanked him up onto his knees.

"Now_ this_ is where the fun begins…"

Back at Grimmauld place, tensions were high.

Harry sat with Hermione, comforting her and assuring her that Ron and the others were safe. Francis was doing his best to keep his mother from returning to St. Mungo's, from which Neville had forcefully sent her away. And Sirius had decided to join the others in battle at the ministry.

"I can't just stay here while everyone else is fighting," replied Harry. "It isn't right. It's _me_, Voldemort wants..."

"And the _key_," added Hermione.

"Mum...Neville's going to be alright," replied Francis, in a more hopeful tone than what he'd actually felt.

"Of course he'll be alright!" she answered. "I- he's just a boy! All those Death Eaters...against a little boy."

Francis frowned.

It was comforting to see former traces of the mother he once knew show through. She had always been a tough broad, but at one time, she had a more gentle streak to her. Where all of her maternal instincts kicked in to high gear whenever one of her boys was in trouble and she hoovered over them in protection rather than with suffocation.

Suddenly there was a pop and Snape along with Malfoy appeared.

"Potter, Granger...come with us."

"Where?" asked Harry.

"_Do not _question me, Potter."

"Severus- any news?" asked Francis.

He shook his head and straightened his robes.

"As soon as I bring Potter to his destination I will go."

Francis suddenly turned his eyes to Malfoy.

"Thank you for letting my daughter go."

Malfoy kept his eyes on the floor.

"As long as she is safe...that is all that matters."

"Cornelia sent me a patronus about a half hour ago. She is safe."

"Oh thank god..." replied Francis, who sighed with relief, looking as though several tons of weight had been lifted.

Lucius dragged Neville up to the main floor of the hospital and threw him into an empty room.

"Can we take turns roughing him up?" begged a Death Eater.

"Leave that to me. Report back to Jessica and tell her we have the boy."

The other Death Eaters left and Lucius began to circle around Neville.

"Now, let's move on shall we? Where is the key?"

"I don't have it."

"Liar! Of course you have it! Where is it?"

Neville said nothing.

Lucius was beginning to get angry.

"WHERE IS IT?"

"I don't have it."

Lucius took out his wand.

"ACCIO KEY!"

Nothing happened.

"I don't have it," Neville repeated coldly.

Lucius gave Neville a hard kick in the ribs and began pacing back and forth.

"Who has it?"

"_I don't know_," Neville replied, gritting his teeth in pain.

Suddenly the door burst open, practically flying off of its hinges. Neville looked over to see a woman waltz in and throw herself into Lucius' arms.

They embraced each other tenderly, as if they were long-lost lovers who had finally been reunited after years of estrangement. Lucius spun the woman around a few times and when they finally pulled apart she looked down at Neville with a malicious grin.

"Oh, Lucius! For me? You shouldn't have! You always know what gets my knickers off."

This was the second time Neville had seen this woman face to face. The last time Neville had seen her had been during the battle at the Department of Mysteries two years ago, and Neville had hoped that would be the last time he'd see her but it wasn't. She continued to haunt him in his dreams.

She knelt down next to Neville and stared down at him spitefully.

This had once been an attractive witch, Neville had known by photographs from years before he was even born. Those photographs displayed a promising young witch with silky black hair, olive skin, dark almond shaped eyes and a dazzling white smile. Although, even then- there was still something off about this woman, something terrifying and evil.

Now, the woman who knelt above him held not one sliver of her former self. She had thick; dry tangles of black hair weaved with white streaks that stood up wildly at all ends. Her skin was grey and pasty, her face gaunt and sunken in and her eyes had been reduced to mere black slits. This is what years of Azkaban did to Bellatrix LeStrange.

"Leave the boy to me, Lucius. We have some unfinished business to attend to."

Lucius hesitated for a moment and eventually left.

"So Longbottom…long time, no see."

Neville began to struggle against his bonds but it was no use, he was completely powerless and at her whim, she could do anything she wanted to him and there was nothing he could do to stop her.

Bellatrix leaned over Neville and began graze the back of her filthy hand against his cheek.

"We have a lot to talk about…"

Neville squirmed and turned his head away from her but she grabbed his chin and held his head in place so that he was forced to look at her.

"Nuh-uh. That's not very polite. You look at Auntie Bellatrix when she's talking to you."

"Don't touch me!"

"Why not? I would think that a boy your age would_ want_ to be touched by an older and much more experienced woman…"

"Get away from me!"

"What are you now, boy? About Seventeen? _Oh but you don't look it_," she replied, placing both her hands on his cheeks and pinching them.

"Ickle Longbottom has got such a pretty, baby face. This will make things all the more _fun_ for me."

She slapped him hard across both cheeks and stretched out next to him, pressing herself up against him. She slowly placed one hand behind his head and began to caress his hair.

She brought her other hand up to his chest and slowly slinked her fingers up to his face, which when she was close enough he bit her.

Bellatrix let out a shriek and once again slapped Neville hard across the face. Then she began howling with laughter.

"Oh! I see you're a feisty little boy- and a biter! Which is excellent because _I am too_…"

Bellatrix leaned down and placed her head on Neville's shoulder.

"Mmmm, I love _the smell_ of young, sweaty, scared little wizards…"

She slowly brought her mouth up to his face. Her warm, sticky breath was all over him.

"And _the taste_ as well…"

She quickly flicked her tongue up his cheek and planted a kiss on his forehead.

She brought a hand down to his shirt collar and began gently running her fingers along his collarbone.

"_Tell me where the key is_," she whispered, almost seductively into his ear.

Neville violently jerked his head away from her.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"_Oh_...you mean you don't like me being this close? Maybe I should bring Lucius back in here if you'd prefer a _man's_ touch."

"Fuck you!"

"My, my! Didn't your Mummy teach you any manners? Oh, no wait! That's right, your Mummy is insane. Oopsies…"

"Don't you dare talk about my mother…"

"Listen sweetheart," she hissed cruelly. "I understand that you've got so much pent up fury and so many rampant teenage hormones surging inside of your veins right now," Bellatrix began, pinching Neville's cheeks again.

"But you have to understand, I was just doing what had to be done…had your parents minded their instincts then maybe they'd be…able to _share_ this everlasting moment with us right now."

"GET. OFF. OF. ME!"

"Now where is that key?"

What she didn't know was that Neville had hidden the key inside of his sock.

She slowly inched her hands down to his trousers and fished around in both pockets, and she made sure to feel around for a little_ too_ long.

"Nope not in there. Where else could it be I wonder?"

She inched her hands back up to the collar of his shirt and began to undo the top button.

"You know...I don't know about you but I am quite enjoying myself. I haven't had this much fun in _ages_."

Neville continued to squirm away from Bellatrix and struggle against his bonds while she finished unbuttoning his shirt.

"Stop squirming!"

"GET AWAY FROM ME! I DON'T HAVE THE DAMN KEY!"

"Oh, my! Lookie what we have here…" replied Bellatrix in awe as she clicked her tongue in approval. "I just want to eat you right up…"

She ran her index finger from his bellybutton all the way up under his chin and then back down again.

"You are quite an attractive young thing…just like your father was…yes, just like Frank…"

Neville tried to turn himself away but Bellatrix got on top of him and sat down on his stomach.

"Nuh-uh…I need you to stay right where you are…Auntie Bellatrix isn't finished with you yet…"

She leaned down and pressed her lips to his neck and gently took a bite.

Neville screamed out and struggled but she was stronger than she looked and managed to hold him down.

"Mmmm, I wanted your father _so badly _but he just couldn't see past anyone but Alice. Alice, Alice! It was _always_ about Alice. _Stupid bitch cunt,_ Alice…so I guess the next best thing would be to have Frank's son…" she hissed into his ear.

"You know," she continued, "The night we condemned your parents' souls to hell...your mother begged for her life...she cried and howled and moaned like a _whore_. I enjoyed every second of it...and I would do it over and over again. The look of fear in her face as she slowly began to die...the light fading from her eyes...made it all worthwhile."

Neville's blood began to boil and he grit his teeth so hard he thought they'd all break.

She leaned down and firmly pressed her lips to his mouth but when she pulled away Neville spit in her face.

"Oh! You shit-nosed little brat!" She screamed and punched him, her rings catching his face.

Bellatrix grabbed both ends of Neville's open collar and yanked him up; their faces were less than an inch apart.

"Where is the key?" she growled.

"I…don't…know…"

"Enough games, Longbottom! Tell me...or_ I will find your pretty little girlfriend and slice her neck open, from ear...to ear_!"

Neville had no idea what Bellatrix had in store for him but he imagined whatever it was, it couldn't be good. He thought hard about what he should do.

"Who do you work for?" asked Neville quietly.

Bellatrix stared at him dumbfounded for a moment before her evil smirk took over once more.

"My Lord, of course. I serve him and have _never_ failed him."

Neville's eyes burned into hers and he lowered his voice to a near whisper.

"And what purpose does that serve? What has he ever given you? What do you get out of it?"

Bellatrix stared at him, her smirk slowly faltering.

"_Power_," she hissed. "_Immortality_."

Neville scoffed and smirked back at her.

"You don't have _power_...you're a fool for even thinking that."

Bellatrix glared at him, her eyes ablaze.

"Listen you pathetic, _little fuck_. I am the most powerful witch of our time- and no one can match up to my talents. _No one_. Not even the Dark Lord himself."

Neville rolled his eyes.

"All those years in Azkaban must have really rotted your brain. You aren't _powerful_- you aren't _special_- You are a follower, nothing more than a mere puppet that does what she's told. You're a _coward_. A disgusting, vile, abominable disgrace to our kind..."

Her eyes grew wide as she leapt up onto her feet.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

"I've heard stories about you-" continued Neville. "You aren't what you say you are...if Voldemort were to discover your true roots...he'd have you killed on the spot. You are just another pawn in his game. You mean _nothing_ to him."

"LIAR!" she shouted. "CRUCIO!"

She blasted Neville with the cruciatus curse, his body arched up and began to twist and bend.

Neville screamed.

"_Not so brave now...are we_?" she spat.

She continued to torture and violate him off and on for the next two and a half hours-which to Neville, seemed like an eternity- in so many different ways that he had lost track. She must have grown bored because she finally bent down and undid his bindings. Neville slowly pulled himself up and faced her, bloody and battered, so weak he felt as though he'd pass out at any moment.

"_Show me what you've got Longbottom_," she hissed.

And so the duel began.

He blasted her with every curse he could think of and she had managed to fend off all of them. He somehow managed to keep up with her and blocked all of her attacks. Things were beginning to get heated.

"WE CAN END THIS ALL NOW, LONGBOTTOM!" shouted Bellatrix, as she ducked to avoid the multitude of curses flying about the room. "JUST HAND OVER THE KEY!"

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" He retorted.

They continued to duel and Neville could feel his body start to rebel against him. His arms grew heavy like lead and his legs began to wobble beneath him. He was at a moment of collapse.

"INFLICTUM!"

Neville watched as someone else's curse sent Bellatrix flying back into a cabinet, knocking her out cold. He turned to the open door and saw a worn and slightly bruised- but otherwise healthy, Nelie with her wand drawn.

"Nelie...thank god..." muttered Neville, who finally collapsed to the floor.

"C'mon," she muttered. "We've got to get out of here."

She pulled him up and supported him as he limped along beside her.

"Sorry it took me so long to arrive," she began in a whisper. "I've been fighting with the others at the ministry. I'm sure you know by now but I was captured at Frighning Hook and my mother took on my appearance to try and get the key from you. I was then taken to Malfoy Manor where our _dear friend _Draco Malfoy was to kill me. He let me go and we both fled and now I'm here."

She surveyed him and frowned.

"They really did one over on you, yeah? Don't worry. We're going somewhere safe where you can rest up."

They apparated to a tiny cottage in a remote wooded area Neville did not recognize.

When they entered, Neville immediately had the wind knocked out of him as Hermione rushed over to him and threw herself around him, squeezing him so tight he thought he'd pass out.

"Thank heavens you are alright! We were all so scared!" She released him and took in the sight of him and gasped in horror. "What did they do to you?" she shrieked.

"It looks worse than it actually is..." he replied quietly. "I'm fine."

Neville looked past Hermione and saw that Harry, Ginny and his gran were present as well.

Ginny slowly walked up to him and without a word, wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. He looked down and saw tears streaming down her face.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

Ginny looked up at him, her brown eyes glazed over with worry.

"Hmmm?" he questioned again.

"Fred's been seriously wounded and I had no clue whether or not _you_ were alright...you didn't even say goodbye to me. You could have died and you-"

"_I'm sorry_," he whispered.

Neville gently pried her off of him and limped over to his gran.

"Who did this to you?" Augusta asked, her voice low and threatening.

"It doesn't matter..." he replied. "I was lucky Nelie arrived when she did...otherwise I probably wouldn't have made it-"

"Bellatrix LeStrange," answered Nelie.

At this Augusta's eyes flashed and she turned away.

"_That woman_..." she began darkly, "is going to discover what it feels to _truly fear _when she crosses paths with me. This will be _the last _time she brings harm to my family."

"Neville- your gran made us sandwiches. There are plenty left," prodded Hermione.

He forced a smile and politely thanked her.

Food- as it had been for quite awhile now- was once again the _last_ thing on his mind.

He'd almost lost his life at the hands of Bellatrix LeStrange and she was expecting him to eat?

"Maybe later," he replied.

Suddenly Harry came up behind him and gently pulled him away from the others.

"I just wanted to forewarn you...I overheard Snape and Malfoy talking...and under Snape's orders Malfoy is supposed to take you to the _Isle of Mors _to destroy the key."

"I'm not going _anywhere_ with him."

There was a loud pop and Arthur along with Charlie and George- who were carrying Fred's lifeless body- appeared and gently layed him down on the couch.

If he hadn't known otherwise, Neville would have assumed that Fred had been dead, and he looked as though he could be, except for the very faint rise of his chest.

His already red hair had been stained with blood that continued to gush out of his head and the right side of his face had been nearly burned off.

Everyone crowded around Fred except for George, who stood back and stared at his other half with horror. His face had gone so white that he could have easily passed for a ghostly apparition. Neville made his way over to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"He'll pull through- don't worry."

"Fred was- one minute he was fine...putting up a hell of a fight...and then the next thing I know...he was down...just like that..."

Neville nodded.

"I just...I should have done more to protect him. I should have been paying closer attention-"

"It's not your fault," replied Neville.

"It should have been me..."

"George- c'mon now, don't say that."

"When I get my hands on the man who did this to him..._I swear I'll kill him_..." replied George darkly.

Neville got chills. This was the reality of war. Everyone was thirsty for blood, whether it be for the fulfilment of their own amusement or revenge.

He stood quietly by George until Nelie gently took hold of his hand and escorted him out of the room. Neville watched as they disappeared down the hallway.

There was another pop and Francis appeared. Other than a few cuts and bruises he appeared to have held up in the battle well.

"How is he doing?" he asked.

"We don't know yet," answered Arthur, glancing solemnly at Fred's unconscious body. "He's out right now."

"Neville- a word, please?"

He followed his uncle down the hall and into one of the empty rooms, where they both sat themselves down.

Francis sighed heavily.

"What you did...was _very dangerous_."

"_I had _to go, Francis..."

"You could have gotten yourself killed...and by the looks of it you almost did."

"I know it was stupid _now_, but at the time...I was just thinking of my mum and dad. I don't know where they are. They're not there...the whole hospital has been abandoned, except for Death Eaters..."

"You are very brave. You would make a spectacular Auror."

Neville blushed.

"I um..." Francis paused.

"What?" questioned Neville.

"I talked to mum a little bit...and she and I both agree that it would be best for you to see someone. A _friend of mine _actually, who specializes in treating the sort of issues you are suffering with..."

"What _sort of issues_?" asked Neville sharply, as he began to button his shirt back up, which he had almost forgotten about.

"You know exactly what," replied Francis. "You need to regain your strength-"

"We're in the middle of _a war_, Francis! I don't have time to-"

"It's not up for discussion," answered Francis firmly.

"You can't tell me what to do!"

"But I can."

Neville turned around just as his gran entered the room.

"Darling, this is for your own good."

He looked from Francis to his gran and jumped up.

"This isn't the time for this! What- do you think the war is just going to honorably come to a halt for me? Do you think Voldemort is just going to call a friendly truce and wait until I'm ready? Are you two absolutely mad?"

Francis and his gran exchanged worried looks.

"The decision has been made," answered Francis.

"I'm not going _anywhere_!" he shouted.

"Then _prove to us _that you can beat this," challenged Francis.

"I don't have to prove a damn thing to anyone!"

"That's because you can't- you can't stop the cycle of self-destruction you are putting yourself through."

"I don't know what you're talking about," snapped Neville.

"You've been starving yourself and purging your feelings for so long that you've lost yourself- you're falling into that abyss of darkness I told you about- the same one I fell into. You've got to pull yourself out before it's too late."

"I haven't lost myself..." began Neville darkly. "I've _found_ myself...I'm stronger, smarter and more self-assured than I've ever felt in my entire life...I _hated _who I used to be. I was a scared, fat, useless loser...a _nobody_."

"That's not true," replied Francis.

"It is."

"Darling...come, let's go have some tea. I'll make you something to eat- anything you want."

"I don't want anything."

"You have to eat sometime," threatened Francis. "Or you'll end up in St. Mungo's with all sorts of tubes running fluids through you- and I can assure you that is_ not _fun."

"You can't make me do anything! None of you can! It's my choice! I-"

Suddenly the voice took over.

_'Remember...just tell them what they want to hear and they'll back off.'_

Neville put on his best smile.

"I apologize for my less than acceptable behavior. I think a cup of tea would be lovely, gran."

She nodded and left.

"Neville- I'm not quite sure what's going on in that head of yours but these games have got to stop..."

"What games?" asked Neville innocently. "I'm not playing any games."

Francis' eyes burned into his.

"You honestly don't think I know when someone your age is bullshitting through their teeth? I have two children of my own not much older than you. I've seen and heard it all."

"You're right," agreed Neville. "But I just...I know you and gran are worried about me, but _I'm fine_. I'm just a little rattled still about what happened back at St. Mungo's...Bellatrix could have killed me at any moment...instead she decided to slowly torture me...she-she...was all over me and I couldn't get away. She...she touched me and groped me and-" Neville stopped, he couldn't bare to continue.

"She didn't find the key did she?"

"No. I hid it in my socks...figured no one would look there."

"Clever," replied Francis.

"I'm really sorry for my behavior lately," began Neville. "I'm just so on edge."

"Which is why you should talk to someone..."

Neville smirked.

"I don't have time to talk to anyone."

Francis sighed and allowed Neville to leave.

He walked into the kitchen, where his gran and Ginny had been talking quietly, they both stopped as soon as he entered.

"Talking about me I suppose, hmm?"

"How are you feeling?" asked Ginny.

"Great," he muttered sarcastically.

"Maybe you'd feel better if you ate something," suggested Ginny.

"Not hungry."

She glared at him but said nothing.

Neville took a sip of tea and watched Ginny. She looked so sad. He hated to see her this way, she had seemed a lot happier when they first started dating and now she wasn't any better off than when she was still dating Dean. He mentally scolded himself and reminded himself of how he didn't even deserve her. He wondered if she felt the same way.

They all three sat in silence and Neville couldn't help but feel like a complete failure. Here he was with his girlfriend and his gran- the two women in his life he should be most protective of- and he felt as small as a fly.

Neville gulped down the last bit of his tea and politely excused himself.

When he reentered the sitting room he was immediately met with the displeasure of Snape and Malfoy. Snape was in deep conversation with him, as he nodded along silently.

He noticed Hermione sitting by herself, staring outside the window. He made his way over to her and sat down.

"I'm going to the ministry," he whispered to her. "To help fight- but don't tell anyone because then they won't let me go."

She turned to him, her eyebrows raised high.

"Neville, you can't-"

"I can and I will."

She sighed.

He knew she must have been worried sick about Ron and was trying her best not to let it show.

"I need your help..." he whispered. "I'm going to go as Shelby Bell. I've still got a few strands of his hair but I don't have any polyjuice potion."

"I've got some," replied Hermione. "I always keep a couple of vials handy."

"Thanks, Hermione. And if anyone asks- tell them I went to get some fresh air."

"You owe me..." she replied, making it clear she disapproved of his plan.

She pulled out her hand bag and began to rummage around inside of it. She pulled out a vial and handed it to him.

"_Be careful_," she warned.

He nodded and stood up to leave but she grabbed him by the arm.

"Oh and Neville- could you please look after Ron...and tell him..." she stopped herself and her cheeks began to slowly turn pink and then red.

"Tell him what?" he prodded.

"Never mind..."

He had a feeling he knew what she wanted him to say and he was immediately reminded of how he had left Ginny without even saying good-bye- let alone "I love you," and she had even mentioned herself how he could have easily been killed without having said this to her.

"Hermione, there's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"Tell him I love him," she uttered quickly.

He nodded.

"I will."

She stood up and walked with him to the door.

"Just a moment- I'll be right back."

He entered the kitchen and took Ginny's hand and led her into the hallway where they could be alone.

He cupped her small face in both of his hands and brought his lips down to meet hers, and then softly began brushing them against her cheeks.

"I love you," he whispered. "So much...you mean more to me than anything else in this world."

Ginny held onto him tight.

"I love you too."

"I'm sorry I haven't been here for you as much as you'd probably like...and I'm sorry I haven't been the best boyfriend but if you'll allow me- _I promise _I'll make it up to you. Once all of this is over...I'll treat you like the princess you are, things have just been so hectic I haven't been able to make you my number one priority...and it kills me. I'm the luckiest guy in the world to be able to call you my girlfriend..."

Neville paused and Ginny watched him anxiously, waiting for him to continue.

"These past years we've known each other...never once did I ever believe- or could have imagined- that you'd be...that I'd be-"

He paused again and cleared his throat. His palms were beginning to sweat and his voice was getting caught in his throat. He was mesmerized by her beauty.

"Every time I look at you...I still get butterflies in my stomach. You make me so happy and I can only hope you feel the same...I just- I've had feelings for you for so long and to see you with all of those other guys...it killed me, but as long as you were happy that was all I ever cared about. I've been in love with you from the moment I layed eyes on you."

Ginny began to tear up and beamed up at him happily.

"I-I can't promise you that I'm the best guy you've ever been with or that I'll always be able to satisfy you...but _I can_ promise you that as long as you're with me...I'll never let anything _bad_ happen to you. I'll protect you, provide for you, listen to you and support you always...no matter what, through good and bad. You're my angel- my princess...my _everything_."

She held on to him tight and continued to cry tears of joy.

"I've never felt this way about any other guy before...I feel exactly the same way about you, Neville. I love you. I _truly_ love you...I may not have realized it as soon as you did, but I do."

Neville's heart began to pound, and he was getting woozy with the thought of what he was about to do. He wiped his clammy hands on his trousers and cleared his throat again.

He reached out and tucked her hair back behind her ears and kissed her again, only this time with more force and more passion.

When their lips parted he took a deep breath and attempted to calm his nerves but it was no use. He decided he just needed to do it.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley..." he began, his voice strong and clear- even though his insides were like jelly- as he knelt down and pulled a ring out of his pocket. "Will you marry me?"

Ginny squealed and stared at him in shock, her mouth open.

"I-I know it's sudden- I know this isn't probably the _best_ time to be asking but-"

Neville didn't know if it was the chaos that he'd endured for the past few months or the sheer fact that he could have easily lost his life earlier that made him decide to take such a leap of faith but all he knew was that he wanted to show her how much she meant to him- since he wasn't always so good with words. His adrenaline had been pumping and _he knew _he had to ask her.

He simply could not wait any longer and her silence rung louder in his ears than his own pounding heart. He continued to kneel before her, his arm outstretched- offering her the ring.

"_Yes_!" She finally replied. "_Yes_! I'll marry you!"

He slipped the ring onto her finger and picked her up and swirled her around, planting another firm kiss on her lips.

Neville put her down and she brought her hand up to her face to examine the ring.

"Oh, Neville- it's _beautiful_!"

"It was my mother's...when Francis and I went to visit my parents yesterday I was looking through some of their things and I came upon her engagement ring...and I thought of you...I know she wouldn't have minded...she would have wanted you to have it..."

"I'm honored," replied Ginny happily.

The ring fit Ginny perfectly- for which Neville was very thankful- it was a combination of platinum and yellow gold with tiny, sparkling diamonds all around. The center diamond was made of genuine polished, dragon irises, that shined and dazzled iridescently in the light.

"Oh, Neville! I'm so happy! C'mon, let's go tell everyone the news!"

"Errr...I don't know if I'm quite ready for everyone to know yet..."

"Why not?" asked Ginny with disappointment "They're not complete nitwits, Neville...you don't think they'll see the ring and question it's purpose?"

"It's just not the best time...to go about spreading the news to everyone just yet. I mean, everyone's stressed and wore out and of course worried about Fred. I just think it'd be best if we wait...you know, when things settle down and everyone can be truly happy for us. Yeah?"

Ginny sighed.

"I suppose you're right."

"Until then...here- I got you this chain...you can put the ring on it and wear as a necklace until we're ready to tell everyone. Let's at least try to get through the war first...but for now, this stays between us. Okay?"

He winked at her and she smiled and wrapped her arms around him.

"It'll be our little secret," she whispered.

Ginny pulled the ring off her finger and allowed Neville to place it on the chain. He then placed it around her neck and she tucked it under her shirt.

"This is the best day of my life," she replied.

Neville smiled and took her hand and led her back into the sitting room with the others.

"Alright, I'm going to go out and get some fresh air. I'll be back later. I love you."

"And I love you."

He kissed her once more- which caused Ron, who had returned safe and sound, to jokingly make gagging noises, after which Hermione slugged him- and walked himself out.

Hermione quickly followed him.

"I'm glad to see Ron's safe," he told her.

"Me too..." she replied.

"So did you tell him?"

"Tell him what?"

"That you love him."

"Oh..." replied Hermione, as her cheeks began to redden slightly. "Not yet..."

"Don't wait too long," cautioned Neville. "Those_ three little words_...are so...crucial. You don't want to miss out on being able to say those words to someone you care about."

Hermione nodded in agreement.

"Something's different about you..." she observed.

"What do you mean?"

"You're positively _glowing_...you look the happiest I've seen you in quite awhile."

"I am," he replied simply.

Hermione smiled.

"I'm glad. It's nice to see traces of the _old you_, you know...when things were _better_..._easier_."

"I proposed to Ginny," he blurted, before he could stop himself. "And she accepted."

Hermione's jaw dropped and she squealed with excitement.

"Oh, Neville! I'm so happy for you!"

She jumped up and hugged him.

"But don't tell _anyone_. In fact, I shouldn't have even said anything...I broke my own word. I had to convince Ginny to keep it a secret until the war is over, which was hard...but it's just not the right time. I'm trusting you."

"You have my word."

"Alright, well...has there been any word on the others that are still fighting at the ministry?"

"No," replied Hermione. "But are you sure you want to do this? I don't really think it's a very good idea...I mean, what if something goes wrong and the polyjuice potion wears off? Or what if someone discovers you?"

"I'll be fine. I have to go make sure everyone is okay."

"Just be careful. I mean it. If you aren't back by at least midnight I'll come after you myself."

Neville smirked.

"Just...look after Ginny for me, yeah? I don't want her to worry..."

Hermione nodded.

He gave her one last hug and apparated to the Ministry of Magic, where the battle remained in full swing. He quickly ducked out of sight, pulled out the vial of polyjuice potion and placed three strands of Shelby Bell's black hair into it. It bubbled and fizzled and the familiar, very pungent stench of it- which smelled like sweaty socks and dragon piss- made Neville feel very queasy all of a sudden. He plugged his nose and quickly knocked back the liquid.

He pulled his glasses off and tucked them into his pocket before amercing himself into the battle.

Which was a complicated matter- because he had to make sure that he _appeared _to be fighting against the order, otherwise his cover would be blown.

He fired off a few harmless spells towards various members of the order- making sure not to actually hit any of them- and weaved in and out of the battle, searching for the others. To his left, he saw Tonks battling with two female Death Eaters and not far from her, Remus was dueling against Fenrir Greyback. Next he spotted Maitland, who had just been hit with a nasty curse that slashed the side of his neck. Neville ran to him as he went down. Neville looked around cautiously, grabbed Maitland by his collar and yanked him up and pressed his wand threateningly into the undamaged side of his neck.

"_It's Neville_," he hissed into his ear. "I'm going to drag you back here so we can talk...you need to make it look like you're putting up a fight. Struggle a bit."

Neville- whose wand was still pressed into his neck- dragged him back behind a wall, out of sight from the battle.

"What are you doing here?" asked Maitland, who had his hand pressed up to his neck, which was bleeding heavily.

"Are you alright? Let me have a look at that..."

The gash was a nasty one that would likely require several stitches but until then Neville cast a simple charm to stop the bleeding.

"How's Fred?"

"We don't know...he hasn't come out of it yet."

"How are dad and Nelie?"

"They're fine."

"Listen- I'm going back out there..." began Maitland. "Just be careful...and make sure you keep track of the time...you don't want to go out there as _yourself_, otherwise we'll all be in a world of hurt..."

Neville watched as Maitland effortlessly jumped right back into battle.

Before he could follow, someone grabbed him and turned him around.

It was Malfoy.

"Come with me," he hissed.

"No!"

"Don't cause a scene, Longbottom- I can't be seen here."

"_Longbottom_? What are you talking about?"

Neville mentally scolded himself. Was it really that obvious that it was him?

"Cut the act, Longbottom- I know it's you."

"But- how can you tell?"

Malfoy smirked.

"Only _you _would bring along proper manners and etiquette onto the battlefield. I overheard you apologizing to _'your enemies'_ for firing curses at them. The real Shelby Bell may as well have been raised by wolves, besides he's_ right handed_..."

Neville blushed.

"Come on- I'm supposed to take you somewhere."

"I'm not going...anywhere with you..._ever_," hissed Neville.

Suddenly Neville heard his name and he turned.

There was a soft pop and when he turned around Malfoy was gone.

"Where is he?" called the voice. "Where are you hiding Potter and Longbottom? If you tell me..._I will allow you to live_."

The Death Eater who had spoken was a large man- at least seven feet tall- had stringy, unwashed hair and an eye patch. His loud voice seemed to echo off the walls as a few of the other Death Eaters stopped mid-battle to watch the scene unfold.

The person on the receiving end of this Death Eater's threat- to Neville's horror- was Nelie, whom he hadn't even noticed was missing before he left. She must have snuck out again to return to battle while he was with Ginny.

"I'd rather _die_ before telling you their whereabouts!" she shouted.

"So be it..." replied the Death Eater, as he fired a curse at her- which she easily dodged.

"That all you got!" she taunted.

In order to keep from looking suspicious, Neville aimlessly fired off a few spells every couple of minutes to make it look as though he were engaged in the battle but in reality he was keeping a close eye on Nelie, just in case he needed to intervene.

"Thank you, Edgar but that will be enough. Run along now...I'll take over from here."

Neville watched as Jessica Bloodworth emerged from the depths of the battle to approach her daughter.

"Oh my darling daughter, how lovely to see you! It's been _much_ too long."

"Disappointed that your plans to have me killed were foiled, _mother_?"

"_Slightly_," she admitted, as a cruel smile spread across her face.

"You're pathetic. Look at you...you are a sad excuse for a witch...whether it be as a result of this war or for whatever other reason...I hope you burn in hell!"

"_Ohh_...now, I didn't raise you to speak like that," Jessica tsked, before breaking into a fit of ugly cackles. "Must be your father's doing."

"_Don't you dare_ talk about him. Do not even speak his name."

"_Or what_?" threatened Jessica.

But before Nelie could answer, Jessica fired a curse at her that emitted a jet of bright yellow light from her wand. Nelie blocked it and fired one right back. They continued to battle back and forth until Maitland eventually stepped in.

"Let's see if your worthless father managed to teach you anything useful!"

Neville stayed close by but Nelie and Maitland seemed to be holding up admirably against their demented mother.

"Back away! I don't want to hurt you..."

They turned to see Francis quickly approaching them.

"Our own little family reunion, how lovely!" hissed Jessica.

"The only _and I mean only _thing keeping me from turning my wand on you is the fact that you are- unfortunately, the mother of my children and I will not put them through that unless I have to."

"You haven't changed at all, have you?" she asked bitterly. "Still a spineless bastard..."

"Why are you doing this?" He asked.

"_Why not_?"

"Dad- be careful...she's _insane_!" shouted Nelie.

"I'll show you insane!" shouted Jessica.

She drew her wand and pointed it at Francis.

"INTORQUEO!"

A gust of black smoke flew out of her wand toward him but he blocked it and fired right back.

"FLECTO!"

"INTERIMO!"

"OBLITO!"

"EFFLECTUM!"

"DISMERIO!"

"SUSIRIO!"

Francis and Jessica continued to duel back and forth and it seemed the duel would never end until Edgar began to creep up behind Francis, his wand arm slowly rising.

"DAD LOOK OUT!"""

"FRANCIS!" Neville shouted. He clapped his hand over his mouth and looked around to see if anyone had heard him.

Neville didn't care if he was found out, he wasn't going to allow his family to be harmed and just stand back and do nothing.

He leapt up and fired a curse at Edgar, who flew back- immediately knocked out cold.

Jessica turned to him, her eyes burning.

"SHELBY- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"Protecting my family!" He replied, as he cursed her and ran toward his uncle.

"It's me," he hissed.

"You've got to get out of here!" replied Francis hurriedly. "Once Jessica comes to she's going to realize she's been deceived."

"Alright then- I'll go out with a _bang_," hissed Neville.

He slowly made his way right into the heart of the battle, all sorts of spells and curses whipped past his head and he calmly mixed himself in with over a dozen Death Eaters. If he was going to be leaving the battle, he would be taking as many Death Eaters as he could with him.

He'd have to be fast, because once his attacks began to fly it'd be discovered that he was not who he appeared to be. He stood for a moment, observing his playing field and then, out of nowhere, with no warning whatsoever, began firing off his wand.

"IUGUOLO!"

"SICCO GELIO!"

He fired off every spell and curse that came to him and silently cheered with every Death Eater that went down.

"BELL'S BETRAYED US!"

Neville turned to see Francis, Nelie and Maitland fighting behind him. Charlie, Remus and Tonks came running over to help him.

Suddenly, Neville felt a strong pair of hands grab him from behind. He struggled and kicked but it was no use.

"Thought you could get away with betraying us, eh Bell?"

"FIERENDO!"

Neville's assailant went down and Snape ran up to him.

"_Go home, Longbottom_," he hissed into his ear.

"No."

"_Longbottom...do as I say_," he hissed again.

Neville stared at him, momentarily stunned at the fact that he as well knew his true identity without him having revealed himself.

He surveyed the area and out of the hundreds of Death Eaters that had been battling when he had first arrived there were now only a dozen left, for which Neville felt proud to know he had helped take down the majority. He felt more comfortable leaving now but decided he didn't want to until they were all down.

Neville continued to battle until the last Death Eater finally went down.

They all apparated back to the cottage where Fred was now conscious, although confined to bed rest. They were greeted by everyone else, including Molly Weasley who- in a very motherly gesture- had made the rounds hugging and kissing all of them.

Suddenly Ginny stormed up to him, her expression contorted with rage, her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides.

"_Going to get some fresh air, hmm_?"

"Ginny I'm so sorry...I knew if I told you I was going- you'd have a fit."

"Well, sorry that I don't want my future husband to die before we even have a chance to get married!"

Now everyone's eyes were on the two of them, the entire room had fallen silent.

"Ginny...calm down," replied Neville gently. "And remember what we talked about..."

"Why would you even think to propose to me if you were going to go off and do something stupid, like get yourself killed just moments after? _Then what_, Neville?"

He cleared his throat awkwardly and felt his cheeks begin to burn.

"Ginny...may I have a word with you? In private."

Everyone watched as Neville led Ginny down the hallway.

He gently closed the bedroom door behind them.

"You lied to me," she replied angrily. "That's not a very good way to start off an engagement..."

"I know- I'm sorry...but Ginny what do you want me to do? We're at war right now...I can't just stand around while everyone else does all of the fighting."

She avoided his gaze and began to pace.

"Then I will fight with you," she replied.

"Ginny-"

"If we're going to be husband and wife soon...whatever we do here on out we do _together_...and if you can't accept that, then I'm going to have to return the ring."

Neville sighed. He didn't have the energy to argue with her.

"We may as well go make the announcement official," she continued. "C'mon."

They returned to the sitting room, hand in hand.

"Everyone," began Ginny, "As you all have heard...Neville and I are engaged."

At first everyone stared at them, mouths open in shock until Molly rushed over and squeezed them both into tight hugs.

Eventually everyone else came around and congratulated them.

"I'd say this calls for a celebration!" exclaimed Sirius.

So for the remainder of the night they celebrated the one happy occasion which had so far come out of the gloomy setting of war. They toasted to Neville and Ginny and Sirius had prepared a fanciful feast for them.

Neville stared at the food set before him with disgust and displeasure. The sight and smell of it was enough for him to get up and leave but he was trapped. Everyone was present- from the majority of the Weasley's, Hermione, Harry, Remus, Tonks, Sirius, Francis, Nelie, Maitland and his gran. There'd be no way he'd be able to escape.

Everyone else had begun to dig in on Sirius' food except for Neville- who simply sat playing with it, cutting and smashing it up with his fork.

"Food not very appetizing?" questioned Sirius.

"No- it's not that...I'm just- not very hungry. I'm sorry."

"Darling, don't be rude-" hissed Augusta.

"I'm sorry...I just- can't-"

And with that Neville stood up and hurried out of the kitchen to step outside.

Ginny quickly followed.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, Ginny...I just- everyone was staring at me...watching me- I couldn't take it."

"Well, what do you expect?" began Ginny. "After all, we are the lovely couple of the hour."

Neville forced a smile.

"Come back inside and eat- Sirius prepared all of that food in honor of us..."

"I'll eat later..." he replied.

"Neville-"

"_Later_," he replied firmly.

"Don't ruin our night," pleaded Ginny. "Just come inside and _at least _have some dessert."

"I'll be in in a minute," he replied.

Ginny groaned with frustration and allowed for the door to slam behind her.

Five minutes later, Charlie came outside.

"Everyone is wondering where you are."

"Just getting some fresh air."

"Listen...I think it's fantastic that you and Ginny will be getting married but have you thought this through all the way?"

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind," replied Charlie.

Charlie sat down next to Neville.

"Sirius saved your plate in case you get hungry later..."

Neville remained silent so Charlie continued.

"You're not going to get better unless you _try_."

Neville turned to him, his eyes flashing but said nothing.

"How long has it been since you've eaten?" asked Charlie.

"I don't know."

"That isn't good."

Neville ignored him and stared off in the opposite direction.

"Look," began Charlie, "None of us can force you to eat or keep you from going into the washroom afterwards to purge...that's something none of us have control over. It's all you. You have to find the power within yourself to stop- but before you can even do that...you have to _want_ to stop."

"I thought we've already had this discussion," replied Neville coldly.

And with that he stood up and entered the house, leaving Charlie alone outside.

Once the celebration had finally settled for the night everyone began to retire to their rooms, including Neville and Ginny. They didn't even think to worry about anyone objecting to them sleeping in the same room, as they were now engaged it wasn't much of a concern to anyone.

Neville gently closed the door behind him and went to examine himself in the washroom mirror, he was still pretty banged up and bruised and he knew that as sore as he was now, he'd feel even worse tomorrow.

"I'm going to wash up," he called to Ginny from the washroom. He still had dried blood all over his body that he needed to rinse off and not to mention he needed to scrub himself to get all traces of Bellatrix off of his skin, but even with that- she had left her mark on him- and that would _never _come off.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked, stepping inside before he had a chance to shut her out.

"Errr..."

She gently closed the door behind them.

"A nice, warm bath sounds nice, yeah?"

"I actually...was looking foward to a quick shower," replied Neville sheepishly.

"Nonsense," she replied, grinning.

All she had on was a silk red bath robe which she untied and allowed to fall off of her. Neville realized that he was blushing- which was odd considering she was to soon be his wife, and even with this, he found he was still incredibly shy around her.

She began to walk toward him slowly.

"Your turn," she whispered, as she began to unbutton his shirt.

Suddenly Neville had a flash of Bellatrix unbuttoning his shirt earlier as she tortured him and abused him and rubbed her filthy hands all over him. He gently pushed her away, shaking his head.

"No-"

"Neville, what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry...I just-"

"It's okay," whispered Ginny. "Just let me undress you..."

She grabbed his glasses and set them on the counter and finished unbuttoning his shirt.

"_Oh, Neville_," she gasped, when she saw how battered, bruised and bloody his torso was. "What did they do to you?"

"I'm fine," he replied.

Ginny tenderly brushed her fingers against his ribs and he drew in a sharp breath as a pain suddenly followed. He had been so preoccupied with proposing to Ginny and then the battle at the ministry that the pain his body had been put through had simply dulled it's way out of his mind, but now that the day was done and his adrenaline was no longer pumping, it all rushed back to him and his entire body was throbbing and sharp pains were stabbing at him from everywhere.

She bit her lip and stared at him.

"Do you think anything's broken?"

"Dunno," he replied.

She went over to the tub and turned on the water and then came back over and continued to look him over, at which Neville suddenly began to feel self-conscious about being half dressed and wrapped a towel around himself.

"Why are you so afraid of me seeing you?" she asked. "Of all people, I should be the one you feel most confident and secure around..."

"It's not you, Ginny...it's me...I just don't like you seeing me like this. I feel..."

"What?" she asked.

"_Disgusting_...just absolutely grotesque and I can't believe you have agreed to spend the rest of your life with me..."

"Neville, what are you talking about?"

"_I hate_..." he paused and sighed. "I hate my body...I hate looking at it- having to live in it. I hate looking in the mirror and seeing that nothing has changed. I hate that this is what you are stuck with. I'm no Michael or Dean...I'm just..."

Ginny watched him intently.

"Why haven't you told me this before?"

"It's not exactly something I'm proud of."

"So..." began Ginny quietly, "is this why you are so reluctant to make love?"

Neville didn't answer her but instead pondered about how pathetic it was that his beautiful bride to be was standing before him- completely naked, and he hadn't so much as glanced at her body, or _truly_ taken it in. Any other other boy his age would have immediately acted upon this, but he- he hadn't so much as even had the slightest urge to act. He mentally cursed his body for betraying him at such an inconvenient time. As much as he wanted to feel _something_, _anything_...he felt absolutely nothing. Boys his age were supposed to be raging with hormones and have sex on their mind every second- but of course, not Neville.

He couldn't have made love to Ginny no matter how much they both wanted.

Ginny went back over to the tub and turned off the water. She got in and waved for him to follow.

He slowly and robotically removed his trousers and underwear and quickly got in behind her before she could fully take him in. He stretched his legs out beside hers and leaned back.

"See...this is nice," she replied, as she rested her head on his chest.

They sat for awhile in silence until Neville finally spoke.

"Are you sure you want to marry me?"

Ginny turned around and stared at him confused.

"Of course- why would you ask me that? If I wasn't sure I wouldn't have said yes."

"You don't think, like- we're rushing into it or anything?"

"Why..._do you_? Are you having second thoughts?"

"No not at all," he replied. "I just want to be sure that _you're sure_."

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life," she replied, as she flipped herself around so that she was facing him. She pressed her lips to his and they began to kiss passionately as she allowed her hands to freely explore his wet, naked body.

Again, Neville saw flashes of Bellatrix running her hands all along his body, leaving them in certain places for a little too long and he shuddered and shook Ginny off of him.

She stopped.

"What now?"

"Nothing," he replied. "I'm sorry."

He quickly got out of the tub and began to dry himself off. Ginny followed.

"What is it that you're afraid of...?" she asked.

"I just-"

Ginny began to dry herself off as well and put her robe back on.

She watched her fiancé sadly.

"You're disappearing right in front of me..." she began quietly. "You are nothing but skin and bones. Don't you remember last night? You told me you needed help. Have you forgotten already?"

"I'll be fine," he replied firmly, as he walked out and turned off the bedroom light, leaving Ginny alone in the washroom. She sat down on the edge of the tub and began to weep.

Neville was awoken to someone shaking him hard.

He sat up and found himself face to face with Malfoy.

"Hurry up. Get dressed."

"What are you doing in my room?" asked Neville coldly.

"Just shut up and come with me."

"I've already told you- I'm not going _anywhere_ with you."

"It's not a choice," snapped Malfoy.

Neville turned to look at Ginny, who was sleeping soundly beside him.

"We have to destroy the key..." continued Malfoy. "_Tonight_."

"I'll do it myself. Just tell me where I need to go."

Malfoy snickered cruelly.

"It's not that simple."

Neville contemplated for a moment on whether or not he would actually allow himself to be guided somewhere by the likes of Draco Malfoy when his thoughts were interrupted.

"C'mon, we're wasting time."

"Why should I listen to you?" snapped Neville.

"Because you don't have a choice," Malfoy snapped back. "Snape is waiting for us."

Neville finally dragged himself out of bed and grabbed a change of clothes and went into the washroom. When he came out, Malfoy was gone.

He quietly tiptoed over to Ginny's side of the bed, leaned down and gave her a kiss. At which she opened her eyes.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I've got to go do something...I'll be back soon."

She reached out and grabbed his arm.

"No- you're not leaving me again."

"Ginny- I have to..."

"Then I'm coming with," she declared.

"Ginny-"

"Remember what I said earlier? Whatever we do from here on out we do together...or we can go ahead and call this whole engagement off."

Neville groaned and shook his arm out of her grip.

"Hurry up and get dressed then," he replied, less than enthusiastically.

She jumped out of bed and got dressed.

They quietly exited the room and walked into the sitting room, where Malfoy was impatiently waiting by the door.

"Whoa- wait a minute...she is_ not _coming with us."

"I don't really have a choice in the matter," replied Neville.

"I am coming whether you like it or not," replied Ginny coldly.

"You couldn't have been just a _little_ more discreet in leaving?" replied Malfoy rudely.

"Just shut up and take us where we need to go," snapped Ginny.

Without another word, the three of them set off into the night.

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the excruciating delay! Believe me, as awful as the wait may be for some of you- it's hard on me too! I've been busy and in between jobs and just can't seem to find the time to sit down and write anymore! As always- I have you all to thank for your continued support and interest in my story! I probably would have abandoned this story quite awhile ago if it weren't for all of my awesome readers keeping me going! :)

So please- leave me your reviews! Thoughts? Concerns? Theories? Let me know what you think!

Also, who else is super stoked for DH Part 2? I for one, can not wait for Neville to shine with his bad-assery in this one! It's almost time!

Thanks again to all of my loyal readers!

Chapter 32 to follow...eventually! ;)


	33. Battalion

**Chapter 32: **Battalion

Neville, Ginny and Malfoy had been walking non-stop for three hours.

Ginny was beginning to lag behind and she eventually stopped.

"Can we rest for a minute?" She asked.

"We don't have time for rest," muttered Malfoy.

"But-"

Suddenly Malfoy stopped and walked over to her, bringing his face within inches of hers. Ginny- who looked taken aback- leaned away from his striking glare.

"_Do you think Voldemort is resting_?" he questioned, his voice low and threatening.

Ginny stared at him, her mouth agape as she turned to Neville.

"Where is Snape?" asked Neville. "I thought you said he was meeting us?"

"He will be."

"C'mon Gin," replied Neville as he offered her his hand but she shook her head and refused.

"You two go on if you must but I need to rest."

Malfoy rolled his eyes.

"You heard her- let's get on with this, Longbottom."

"We're _not _leaving her."

"What are you...her babysitter? We don't have time for this. As if you don't have enough baggage already- you just _had_ to bring her. She's slowing us down."

Neville gritted his teeth and glared at the blonde boy maliciously.

"You are the _last _person I'd choose to be with at a time like this- or hell, _any _time for that matter! So if you like your face the way it is I'd suggest you shut your mouth."

Malfoy smirked.

"Like I'm supposed to take _you_ seriously? A threat from Longbottom- _ooh I'm so scared_!"

"You seem to be forgetting that I put you in the Hospital wing for over a week with a concussion..."

At this Malfoy's smirk faded and he glared.

"You think this is fun for me? You've got another thing coming, Longbottom! I was basically forced into this- not like I'm enjoying myself at the moment."

"Look," began Ginny calmly. "I say we all sit down and eat. I brought along some of Sirius' leftovers. It would do us all some good to reenergize before we go any further."

Malfoy glared at her with his arms crossed over his chest, seemingly angry that she was beginning to take leadership over him but eventually gave in.

Ginny sat down and began to dig around in her knapsack and handed them each a container of food. Neville accepted the container under much protest and stared at it hatefully.

"_Eat_," mumbled Ginny through a mouthful of food, as she nodded toward him.

"Er- what is this?" He asked.

"_Well_," began Ginny firmly, "If you had eaten with us the first time- rather than running out, you would know."

Neville could feel his cheeks begin to flush.

"I'll eat later," he replied.

Ginny glared at him.

"_Don't start_," she threatened.

"Don't start _what_? I can't help that I'm not hungry. You act like it's _my fault_...I can't control when I'm hungry or not!"

"You _can _control this...you just choose not to."

Neville reached over and grabbed her knapsack- rather violently- placing his container back inside.

"I'll save it for later," he mumbled.

"_Right_," she answered sarcastically. "We all know that's a load of crock."

Malfoy and Ginny had both devoured their share in a matter of bites and all three of them sat in silence.

"You can't keep avoiding this Neville- you've gone from one extreme to another and-"

"_And nothing_!" Snapped Neville. "Just drop it, Ginny! Now is not the time."

"It's _never_ the time with you!" She shouted.

Malfoy glared at both of them.

"You both need to shut up _now_."

Ginny crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.

"How much farther have we got?" asked Neville.

"Do I look like a map to you?" snapped Malfoy.

"No...but I'll tell you what you _do _look like-"

"Boys!" barked Ginny.

"C'mon. We've had enough time to rest," beckoned Neville.

000000000000

Harry burst into Sirius' room and flicked on the light.

"Sirius...Neville's gone! So are Ginny and Malfoy..."

"Hu- What?"

"Malfoy's taking them to the Isle of Mors...I overheard Snape discussing it with him earlier tonight."

Sirius sat up and began to rub his eyes.

"Harry, _are you_ _sure_?"

"Yes! I don't trust them alone with Malfoy- or Snape for that matter."

"Snape is with Dumbledore."

"So what are we going to do?"

"Harry it's-" Sirius glanced over at his clock. "Almost three in the morning...go back to bed. Let the adults worry about it."

"But Sirius-"

"_Harry_."

"What if something happens to them?"

"I have faith in their abilities to protect themselves. They are all very strong alone, so I can only imagine that they are even stronger together."

"I don't trust Malfoy."

"Well you're going to have to, Harry. You know, part of being a man is learning to let go of these childish rivalries and just co-exist with certain people you may not like. It is all apart of life. As you may now be aware- Draco Malfoy is in just as much danger as you and Neville. In fact, he's putting his own life at risk to transport Neville."

Harry stared at his godfather unconvinced.

"There's got to be a catch..."

"There isn't always."

"Yeah? But this is Malfoy we're talking about. That slimey, selfish git doesn't care about anyone but himself and-"

"I think there's more to Draco than meets the eye..."

"Yeah- an _evil, rotten core_!"

"Harry, you must give people a chance to redeem themselves. It is possible to cross over from the darkside and join our forces. Look at Severus- and Francis."

"Yeah but-"

Sirius grinned and ruffled his godson's hair.

"You've got a lot to learn yet, boy."

000000000000

Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled as he observed the younger potions master before him.

"They are on their way now?" he asked.

Severus nodded.

"And you will be assisting them?"

"That is correct," he drawled.

"Severus...is there reason to believe that Voldemort knows of this?"

"As we speak," began Snape darkly, "he is planning...his army is growing. They are leaving tonight."

Dumbledore nodded grimly.

"Then we must prepare ourselves."

"Albus-"

"Ah Severus...this has been seventeen years in the making and I wouldn't expect anything less...although I do fear many lives will be lost, many more than we can afford."

"Longbottom has grown..." admitted Snape darkly, "into something quite admirable, which came unforeseen by many- myself included. After all these years of him being _so_..." Snape paused as though to come up with the perfect adjective.

"Discomposed?" suggested the Headmaster.

"_Insubstantial_..." continued Snape, "powerless and utterly oblivious to his surroundings and projecting an extraordinarily abysmal amount of focus toward his magic...he has finally found his niche and has become one to be reckoned with. As the boy's confidence continues to grow...he will propose even more of a threat to himself."

Albus nodded in agreement.

Severus continued.

"Although with this...something has seemingly possessed him...something _dark_."

Dumbledore's eyes continued sparkling knowingly.

"As I have been told..." he replied. "The boy is fighting demons..."

"I saw something..." continued Snape, "earlier in the year when I was training him in Occlumency...it shocked me."

"What did you see, Severus?"

But before Snape could answer him they were interrupted. Kingsley Shacklebolt enterered, he looked quite shaken.

"Headmaster," he replied as he bowed slightly, "we've just received word that Voldemort is leaving for the Isle of Mors earlier than expected...his plan is to attack them before they have a chance to fight back. He plans to defeat Neville, take the key and go after Harry."

Dumbledore remained silent.

"Go to them Severus- keep them safe for as long as you possibly can."

Snape nodded.

000000000000

Neville opened his eyes to find Ginny kneeling before him and gently cupping his face as she turned and screamed at Malfoy to help her.

"What happened?"

"You fainted..." replied Ginny angrily.

"Oh-"

"You should have eaten like I told you to and this wouldn't have happened!"

Neville pushed himself up and dusted off as if nothing had happened.

"Well, c'mon then."

Ginny glared at him.

"You just fainted and are going to pretend like it didn't happen?"

"Listen Weasle- it's not too late for you to turn and go back. It'll make things quite easier for all of us."

"Malfoy..." began Ginny, her tone fiery enough to melt ice. "I swear on _Great Merlin's _life that if you say one more word...you _won't _be making the journey back with us."

Malfoy sneered.

"_That would be a blessing_..." he mumbled.

"Can't we just apparate from here?" asked Neville. "I know it's a bit of a risky move...but what have we got to lose? We've made it this far...reckon it's best to push your luck sometimes."

"You know what...that's the best idea anyone's come up with yet..." muttered Malfoy. "Any less time I have to spend with you two is for the better."

They apparated to a place Neville couldn't have even imagined. The skies were black and the unavoidable presense of death lingered in the air surrounding them. They walked up a path leading to various volcanoes that looked as though they were threatening to blow with each step they took.

"_The Isle of Mors_..." breathed Neville.

"_No_-" shot Malfoy sarcastically. "Can't you quite clearly see we've entered some sort of visionary paradise?"

Neville ignored him and continued walking ahead with long strides.

"You got the key?" muttered Malfoy.

"_No_-" Neville shot back with rivaling sarcasm. "I gave it to your _mother_."

Malfoy glared and began to clench and unclench his fists.

"Boys!" exclaimed Ginny.

Suddenly Neville stopped walking and allowed for Malfoy to come within a foot of him.

"_You know, Malfoy_..." he began quietly and calmly. "I've always wanted to say something to you...no, actually _a lot _of things...and I figure, now's as good a time as any, yeah?"

Malfoy remained silent and watched Neville, his arms were crossed and his usual smirk and raised eyebrow were in tact. He watched with a twisted amount of amusement and anticipation as to what Neville Longbottom could possibly have to say.

"You've been a right awful git to me for the past _seven years_...tormenting me, belittling me and just trying to break me down in any way you could possibly think of. But you know what? You may have succeeded in breaking my spirit at times...and demolishing any little pride that I may have ever had but you never broke my conscience. In fact, you were just the fuel I needed to put more of an effort into becoming a better wizard, so while we were in the D.A., which you failed at disassembling by the way; I trained- long and hard...sometimes for days on end and have learned more there than what any other professor could have ever taught me. And do you want to know what kept me going? Knowing that this would all pay off in that one day...sooner than later. I'd have all of the knowledge and skills to put people like you and your family away for good. So in the end, turns out you've helped me. I don't feel as though I deserve nor do I desire an apology, nor would I expect it from the likes of you...but I just want you to know...that _I feel sorry _for you. You want to know why? Because _people like you_...your need to humiliate and degrade others is an outlet for your own inner weakness and insecurity. So if it makes you feel better...we can continue this with you making your nasty comments and smart ass remarks, but just know that it won't have _any _effect on me."

Once Neville had stopped talking he slowly turned to Ginny, who he saw was beaming at him with pride, her smile was so wide he automatically felt his own lips begin to pull themselves up to return an equally wide smile. It had felt so good for him to stand up for himself and tell Malfoy how he really felt, and get years of undealt feelings out of him. He felt as if a thousands pounds had been lifted off of him and he immediately found that he stood taller, straighter and with confidence. He wasn't the same boy he had once been...he wasn't a push over anymore.

Neville finally turned to observe the other boy and saw that he stood, speechless- unable to follow up with any snide remarks. He had also taken notice that the infamous smirk the blonde haired boy always wore had long since faded and was replaced with a rather unreadable expression.

"_Come on_," beckoned Neville after a few more moments of silence had passed, as he waved for Malfoy and Ginny to follow.

000000000000

Severus wasted no time in leaving the Headmaster's office. He moved swiftly and quietly through the halls and was just about to exit the castle when he was stopped by someone.

"Severus..."

The potions master slowly turned to see who had had enough nerve to deter him from his duties.

It was Francis, who looked exhausted to the point of delusion. His once brown hair had now all but turned entirely gray except for one small patch of brown, bravely clinging to his fringe with all it's might. His eyes were heavy with many sleep deprived nights and set purple shadows had grown darker beneath them. He also appeared much thinner than he had at the beginning of the year. His beard- which was in grave danger of treading into_ Hagrid-like _territory- had begun to show traces of white.

The two wizards had been aquaintances and slytherin housemates since their first year at Hogwarts and while they had never been anything more, they each shared a certain amount of consealed respect for the other. Although unlike Francis, Snape would never admit to this.

"I'm glad I've caught you. I hope my appearance doesn't come as a shock to you," Francis began jokingly. "Most realize that I have seen better days."

The potions master studied the other man harshly and waited.

"I...I haven't come with the intention to hold you up...I just wanted to enlighten you on a few things."

"I assure you that I have been _enlightened_ on just enough," remarked Snape dryly.

Severus could tell that the other man had been quite shaken and looked to be on the verge of a mental breakdown, but the other man was trying desperately- fighting even- to hold it all aside for the time being. They were in the middle of war. He could break down after it was all over, that is if he survived.

"I...I've come to ask a favor of you, actually..."

Severus watched the other man, his eyes narrowed.

"_Yes_..."

"It's Neville," continued Francis, "he and the Malfoy boy, Draco, are already on their way to the _Isle of Mors_..."

"_I am aware_," drawled Snape unabashedly.

"Yes...of course..." answered Francis.

"This favor you ask of me?" questioned Snape impatiently.

"Well...if you choose not to do so I will understand entirely...considering the intense amount of loathing and disgrace you've always had toward the boy..."

Snape stared hard at the other man and unfolded his arms.

"What is it?"

"I was hoping...that if you should find it in you to take on such a displeasing and inconceivable task that you could possibly take it even further...so forth by investing in an unbreakable vow."

"_Go on_..." replied Snape, his beady black eyes flashing.

Francis sighed.

"I don't feel as though there is anyone else who can protect the boy as you could...I feel as though I have no one else I can rely on to- I can't always be with him- nor can any of the order members...but you, you have so much more of an advantage to protecting him than any of us would. As far as Voldemort is concerned...you're still on his side. He'd never suspect you of betrayal at this point in time...if anything should disrupt Neville's mission or he should be captured...you could be there to keep his mind strong and steady, to keep the fight in him..."

Severus remained silent, immediately knowing what was to follow.

"I want you to protect him, Severus...at _any and all costs_."

After several moments without a definitive answer, Severus finally nodded.

"_I will make the vow_."

Francis' attempt at a small smile failed miserably as he couldn't seem to muster up even the slightest trace of joy. It was as if it had all been sucked out of him.

"_Severus...truly _you have no idea how much this means to me...and I can only hope to one day return such a favor."

The potions master nodded darkly, emitting not one ounce of emotion.

000000000000

Back at the cottage everyone was now aware of what Neville, Malfoy and Ginny had set off to do. Mrs. Weasley was doing her best to keep everyone calm.

"I for one have absolutely no concern for how my grandson should hold up. He's proved thus far that he's got just as much talent and power as my Frank..."

"We would all like to share your sentiment, Augusta but..."

"But what?" questioned Augusta sharply, staring hard at Mr. Weasley.

"But...they are still just children...who are inexperienced..."

Augusta huffed but said nothing.

"Draco Malfoy is a very powerful wizard," began Remus darkly, "he knows far more dark magic than most others his age and is risking his life for a good cause. If he were to be seen with Neville he'd be murdered on the spot. Voldemort does not take kindly to those who betray him..."

"_He's still a nasty git_..." muttered George under his breath.

Remus sighed.

"That he might be, but the boy's never really stood a chance to be anything more...if_ you _had Lucius Malfoy for a father and Bellatrix LeStrange for an aunt how well do you think you'd end up?"

"Is there anyone tracking their progress?" asked Molly nervously, as she grabbed on to her husband for support. "After all, my baby is with them..."

Sirius shook his head.

"_Too dangerous_. Voldemort and his Death Eaters could easily intercept our signals and apparate right to them."

Molly's face fell. Sirius continued.

"Last I heard Snape was consulting with Dumbledore, he should be making his way to them shortly. He'll protect them, Molly."

There was a soft pop and Percy Weasley appeared. He looked well, albeit a little shaken.

"Percy!" cried out Molly, as she lunged for him and engulfed him in a lung crushing hug.

"_Mum_," he winced, "_please_..."

She finally let go and kissed him three times- once on the forehead and then on both cheeks.

"Any news, son?" asked Arthur.

"The ministry is in absolute chaos," he muttered. "Dumbledore has alerted Scrimgeour of what is about to happen..."

"_And_...?" Pressed Arthur.

"Scrimgeour wanted to send our top Aurors up to the Isle of Mors- to stand guard for when _you know who's_ army arrive but Dumbledore was insistant that he not do such a thing and well, the Minister became _quite _upset...seems to think that Dumbledore is overstepping his boundaries..."

Augusta scoffed and stuck her nose up in the air.

"That is absolutely ridiculous! I trust Rufus Scrimgeour about as far as I could throw him! That man has done nothing to help our cause in the fight of this war since he took over the position as Minister for Magic. He is overly concerned with the _idea _of our victory rather than the actual _plan_ to where he has not been a proper leader. What has he informed us of recently in regards to our brigade? I'll tell you what- _absolutely nothing_! It is well known that he doesn't trust Albus even the tiniest bit. If I had my vote I'd say Albus should become the Minister for Magic- that man, I trust through and through."

"Unfortunately Scrimgeour isn't aware of how serious things have become..." continued Percy. "Dumbledore tried to sit him down and discuss calmly with him on what we should do but he would not stand for any of it. He told Dumbledore, in not so kind words, to back off and keep to what he knows."

Arthur shook his head angrily while Percy continued.

"Severus even made an attempt to persuade Scrimgeour to back off and hold the battalion to stand down- as it would make matters worse. He explained that we should not bring them in unless it become absolutely necessary. Dumbledore is afraid that if we bring them in too quickly that they'll go down like a swarm of flies. We can not afford to lose them this early in the game...Scrimgeour finally caved but warned that if things did not progress to his personal acquittal that he would send the battalion with or without the approval of the rest of the ministry...which, depending on the situation can make or break us."

"Just because he happened to be an exceptional Auror doesn't mean he can make such rash decisions without consulting with the rest of the ministry," began Charlie. "Or without making the rest of the wizarding population aware of what is going on."

Percy sighed and plopped down in a chair.

"How is Fred?" he asked.

Molly's eyes suddenly glazed over with even more sadness.

"_Better_," she replied simply.

"He should be back to his old self here in no time," replied Arthur with a small smile and with slightly more enthusiasm than his wife.

"Glad to hear," replied Percy. "I would have stopped by sooner...as soon as I heard but I had business to attend to..."

Molly nodded sadly and George glared daggers.

"Yeah...sounds about right doesn't it? _Business before family_," he snapped.

"_Now George_-" warned Arthur. "Don't start...I'm sure whatever Percy had to do was-"

"_How dare_ you suggest such a thing," replied Percy, turning to glare icily at his younger brother.

"It's the truth isn't it?" spat George. "When's the last time you've_ ever _put us first? Do you know how close Fred was to dying? No! Of course you don't because you _weren't here_! You couldn't get away from kissing Scrimgeour's sorry, white arse for five whole minutes to come make sure any of us weren't dead!"

"_Cut it out, George_..." warned Charlie.

Percy's face slowly began to turn red.

"Just keep in mind- if it had been _you_, we'd have all been right there in a second's notice...'s a shame you feel too_ priviledged _to congregate and be amongst the likes of your own family anymore...even when our lives are at stake. If I weren't obligated or tied to you by blood I would no longer accept you as my brother."

"_George Fabian Weasley_!" gasped Molly. "You take that back this instant!"

Percy straightened up and cleared his throat. He then stood up, careful to avoid eye contact with any of his family members.

"I should really be going," he quickly murmered. "I've got to get back to..."

Molly walked over to give him a hug and kiss.

"_Give Fred my best wishes_," he muttered before apparating.

"That lousy git should tell him himself..." muttered George.

"Getting angry with him is not going to make him see things any clearer," replied Charlie softly.

"Well...maybe he should learn to stop being such a _twat_..."

"Well, sad as it is to say we've learned more from Percy in the past few minutes than what little information we had before," noted Remus.

"Good on Severus," began Sirius. "Smart of him to step in and make Rufus comply to Dumbledore's wishes. He's a good man to have on our side and a good man to be in protection of Harry and Neville."

"Doesn't anyone else find it a bit ridiculous if not more so_ insulting _that we are all here doing nothing? We should be out there with them!"

Everyone turned to stare at Maitland, who had not spoken a single word until now. His features were contorted with anger.

Augusta nodded with agreement.

"Spoken like a true _Longbottom_," she replied, with a hint of pride.

Maitland continued.

"I mean- I understand not having us all go but surely just a couple of us can go check on them?"

"We are here strictly on Dumbledore's orders...otherwise we would be there," assured Charlie. "If we were all to just show up now it'd just be cause for Voldemort and his army to attack sooner than later. This is buying them time. Dumbledore already said if anything were to happen he would alert us immediately and we would then so forth take action and go assist them but until then we are all staying put right here. As hard as it may be it is for the best."

Nelie, who had also remained silent, let out a defeated sigh and at this Charlie walked over to her and gently lifted her head so she was looking right at him.

"They'll be okay...we're going to win this. That's a _promise_."

Nelie nodded silently and bit her lip.

"I'm going to go check on Fred..."

She turned and disappeared down the hallway.

Eventually everyone returned to their bedrooms, except for George and Charlie.

"He could have _died_..." replied George quietly. "He was so close to death..."

"Let's try not to think about it like that," answered Charlie quietly.

"How can we not? We almost lost our brother..."

"Yes but he's in good care...besides, he's a Weasley, he'll pull through and then you two will be back to your old highjinx in no time...then you can both continue to fight over who is going to be the keeper of Cornelia's heart."

George gave him a small smile.

Charlie observed his brother closely and his eyes were twinkling as if they had knowledge of a secret.

"You've fallen for her, haven't you?"

George looked up at his brother with surprise.

"Who? _Nelie_?"

Charlie nodded.

"Er...well, she's bloody gorgeous...and brave...and kind...and smart...and yeah, I joked about how I wanted to marry her but to say I've fallen for her is _a bit of a stretch_."

Charlie chuckled.

"Lying has never been your or Fred's area of expertise."

George's cheeks suddenly began to pinken.

"_Alright_- so I bloody love the girl! Doesn't matter though...she's only got eyes for _you_..."

Charlie clicked his tongue.

"Oh so you're going to let the fact that she has a little school girl crush on me stop you from making a move? I would have taken you for a little bit more of a cobra than that."

"_A cobra?_...making it seem as though I'm the hunter and she's my prey, not quite how love works there, Charlie."

Charlie grinned and winked at his brother.

"Sometimes you have to see it that way- or more so as a conquest. You've got to focus in on her and catch her, before someone else does."

"So you haven't got feelings for her then?"

Charlie smiled.

"She's a very pretty girl...but a bit young for me yet. Also, she's not exactly _my type_..."

"What do you mean she's not your type!" asked George with astonishment, almost taking offense to the fact that his brother did not find his potential love interest to be "his type" rather than finding relief in the fact that he could now actively pursue her.

When Charlie remained silent George continued.

"Alright then, smart ass...if a virtually flawless, perfect ten- no _twenty_- such as Nelie isn't good enough for you then _what is your type_?"

Charlie thought for a moment as a small smile slowly grew into one that his face could barely contain.

"Well, let me think about this for a moment...definitely tall- I like 'em tall...got to have long hair- I really have no preference to color but I do find that I quite enjoy blondes...hmm _what else_?"

At this George rolled his eyes as Charlie continued.

"Of course there's all that should come with the package as well, such as a kind heart, courage, intelligence...oh, and they've got to have plenty of muscle and endurance to keep up and work alongside me."

George stared at Charlie, his nose scrunched up with confusion.

"Where on earth are you going to find a girl that's as wonderful as how you described that _can_ let alone _will want _to be involved in the kind of work you do?"

Charlie smirked and cocked an eyebrow mischieviously as his eyes burned into his brother's.

"_You won't_," he replied simply.

George stared at Charlie, confused.

"Wait, I don't understand..."

"Must I spell it out for you, Georgie?"

Suddenly George's eyes grew wide.

"_Ohhh_..."

Charlie nodded with confirmation.

"So you're into _blokes_, then?"

"Just do me a favor? Keep your mouth shut or I'll hex you to pieces. I figure what harm can it do to leave mum under the illusion that one day I'll bring home a nice witch to introduce her to who will bear her grandchildren. I'll tell them soon enough. Until then, not a word to anyone. Got it?"

George was so in shock he simply nodded as he couldn't find it in him to form words.

"So with that being said...Nelie's all yours," replied Charlie enthusiastically. "Now go tell her how you feel...if you wait too long Fred's going to beat you to it," teased Charlie, as he pulled his brother into a headlock and began to ruffle his hair.

0000000000000

Snape and Francis were gripping each other's hands tightly, never breaking their eye contact.

"_Now Albus_," replied Snape.

At that, the headmaster placed the tip of his wand onto their hands.

"Will you protect Neville at _any cost_?" asked Francis.

"_I will_."

"Will you make sure that if he is unable to destroy the key for whatever reason that you will destroy it at _any measure_?"

_"I will."_

And finally, will you- _if necessary_, sacrifice your own life under the complete and unbreakable protection of him _without hesitation _or a _second's notice_?"

_"I will."_

As Snape conscented to each vow a thick tongue of fire wrapped around their intertwined hands. When they were finally released from the vow, Francis nodded darkly to Snape.

_"Thank you."_

000000000000

Malfoy had remained silent.

In fact, every few minutes Neville found himself looking back just to make sure he was even still with them.

"So...where is it exactly that I'm supposed to destroy the key?" asked Neville.

Malfoy- whose lips had been drawn into two tight lines, replied so softly that Neville had to repeat himself.

"I _said_..._I_ _don't know_. I'm sure Severus will inform us...if he ever gets here that is..."

"It's so hot..." replied Ginny. "I don't know how much longer I can last up here."

Neville rolled his sleeves up and found that that didn't do much good. Where they had come from, long sleeves had been quite accomodating but had he known they were about to travel to the fiery pits of an above ground hell he might have considered dressing for the occasion.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and bent down, hands on his knees.

"This is absolutely miserable..." he muttered.

"Try spending a week up here...as _punishment_," replied Malfoy bitterly.

Ginny and Malfoy wasted no time taking off as many layers as they could allow to remain acceptably dressed and waited to see if Neville would do the same.

"Neville...you'll fry if you don't take some of that off..." beckoned Ginny.

"I'll be fine," he replied.

"She's right," added Malfoy, "the higher we go it'll only get worse until eventually it'll become unbearable...but by then we'll be needing the _incendia tutela _charm to further protect us."

"We're not going to get burned are we?" asked Ginny with concern.

"Not as long as we stay on the path and just keep moving," answered Malfoy.

Five minutes later, Neville finally caved. No longer able to resist the feeling of his clothes sticking to (or at this point _melting_ into) his skin. He stopped and slowly unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it aside. Unlike Malfoy- who had decided to be bold and go shirtless, there would be no way in hell Neville would take off any more clothes than he had to. He was left with his white undershirt- which was no longer white and stained with dirt and sweat.

Ginny had gotten all the way down to her flimsy tank top and matching undershorts, which were long enough to where Neville felt as though he didn't have to worry about Malfoy attempting to catch glimpses of her arse.

"Can we please rest?" begged Ginny. "Just for a minute- I promise!"

Neville and Malfoy both stopped walking and joined her.

"So..." she continued, "once the key is destroyed...then what? What will that means in regards to Voldemort's plans to take over?"

"I don't know, Gin," answered Neville.

"Voldemort and his army should be showing up soon so we need to be prepared," replied Malfoy. "And on our guard."

The knot in Neville's stomach had grown quite significantly and he gulped.

He may have grown considerably as a person and become more of a consistent and powerful wizard, but he was no match for Voldemort. He would most likely not be able to defeat him using skill at this point in time, but maybe, just maybe he could outsmart him with his wit.

"Tell me about the night Nelie was captured. Why did you let her go?"

Malfoy suddenly stopped walking and turned to Neville.

"It's over and done with. Leave the past in the past."

"I'm just curious...you knew the risks that would come with disobeying your lord...why would you just turn your back on everything you'd been brought up to believe is right? And at such a crucial time?"

"I may be an _awful git_...as you told me earlier but I am _not_ a _murderer_."

"Aren't you scared?" asked Neville.

"Of what?"

"Of what's going to happen to you- _especially_ if you are seen with me?"

Malfoy's infamous smirk had finally reappeared.

"I don't have time to be scared. Everyone has a purpose in life- for great things? Not always, but to fulfill some sort of destiny that has been mapped out for them by some higher power. My life had been planned out for me since the day I was born. I was in training to become the top apprentice to our lord, he had reserved a special spot for me in his inner circle which I was to embrace and accept on my eighteenth birthday, but considering how things have gone...that _won't_ be happening."

"So...it's true," began Neville. "you're a _death eater_?"

Malfoy held out the inner side of his left arm which revealed the dark mark.

"It will always be with me. It's my punishment. My everlasting reminder of how_ close _I was..."

"I still don't trust him," replied Ginny, completely ignoring Malfoy and looking straight at Neville.

"I really don't care," replied Malfoy. "I'm just following orders and then I'm gone. Off somewhere where no one will be able to find me."

"So Malfoy...if this key I have is so sought after and holds so much power that any wizard would love to get their hands on it...what's stopped you from trying to take it for yourself? You've had plenty of chances to take it from me..."

Malfoy's grey eyes widened slightly and they burned through Neville's soul.

"I haven't put much thought into it," he began softly, "it doesn't interest me in the slightest. See, me having the key in my possession wouldn't be the same as you having it. The key can sense evil or anyone who may be tied to Voldemort. The darker and more torn your soul is the more the powers of the key begin to resist and rebel against you...which is why many dark wizards of our past have found their souls to become trapped within. And to be honest, I have better things to do than spend a pitiful purgatory trapped within the realms of some dumb key."

"Do you know much about it?" continued Neville, hoping to get as much information out of Malfoy as he possibly could while he was so willing to share.

"Not much more than you know."

"Alright then...how about Althalos Bloodworth? What do you know about him?"

Malfoy's eyes suddenly reduced back to slits.

"He's the only other wizard in existance that Voldemort ever came to fear- aside from Dumbledore of course. You wouldn't think it by looking at him, considering he's like two hundred years old...but he's about ten times more powerful than Voldemort...my father told me one time, that he killed his own grandchild simply because he didn't like the way she was looking at him. He is about as evil as you can get. I've seen him torture, maim and kill...just for a bit of fun. Rumor has it that he always wears his hood because his face was so horrifically disfigured from a duel he and Voldemort had nearly forty years ago and others say it's because he's simply so old and has committed so many murders that his face and soul have slowly began to rot and detereorate. Personally, I don't think I'd care to find out why and am thankful the poor bastard even wears a hood."

A chill ran up Neville's spine, which was ironic, considering they were sweltering in over a hundred degree heat.

The three teenagers observed the landscape with little hope. Ginny walked closer to the edge of the cliff and looked down. Neville slowly advanced toward her, grabbed her elbow and pulled her back.

"Don't get too close, Ginny..."

"I don't think I can imagine a more miserable place..." she replied quietly.

"To Voldemort...this is a haven," said Malfoy.

"Well he can have it..." replied Neville, "as his final resting place."

Moments passed and suddenly they all felt a soft rumble beneath their feet. At first, none of them mentioned it until gradually the rumbling grew more ferocious and the surface beneath their feet literally began to crumble.

"RUN!" shouted Malfoy.

They all ran up the path away from the shaky earth that was threatening to rip open and swallow them into the dark, hellish pit of lava that awaited them below.

Suddenly, as if things couldn't get any worse the volcanoes were beginning to spew lava at astonishing rates. The moutains seemed to shift with each rumble and rocks and other debris were beginning to fall, their vision was soon clouded over with copious amounts of smoke.

They coughed and sputtered as they continued to run.

Neville watched in horror as Malfoy tripped and nearly fell into a fiery lava pit, but he reached out and pulled him back just in time.

Once they thought they had advanced far enough from immediate danger Malfoy produced the incendia tutela charm which would protect them from suffering any further heat damage. Malfoy hadn't been joking when he said it'd be unbearable once they got higher up the mountain. Neville felt as though his entire body had been set aflame. Sweat was pouring out of them so profusely they'd surely be dehydrated if they weren't already and had probably sweated out a couple of pounds. He wiped his brow and turned to Malfoy.

"That back there was the work of Voldemort..." began Malfoy. "He knows we're here..."

When they eventually reached the top of the Isle of Mors a large cave stood before them. Just as they stepped forth to enter, a large, black dragon with orange symbols emblazened on it's skin leapt down in front of them, blocking the entrance. They all ran back and jumped behind a rock just in time as the dragon began to blow fire in their direction.

"Would have been nice if you'd have warned us of dragons, Malfoy!" shouted Neville over the creature's menacing roar.

"What do I look like- the _keeper_ of this place?"

"Remember what Charlie showed us, Neville?" asked Ginny.

"Yeah..."

"We've just got to let him see that he can trust us...and I vote Malfoy to do it."

"The hell I am! I am_ not _going near that thing!"

Neville's heart was pounding but he knew what he had to do.

Slowly he stood up but Ginny caught his wrist.

"I didn't mean for _you_ to do it!" she shrieked.

"I've got to, Ginny," he replied. "I'm _this_ close...I can't quit now. And plus, there's got to be something in that cave...why else would the dragon be here guarding it?"

Neville slowly took a step away from the rock and began to advance toward the dragon but before he could take another step the dragon roared and blew a another great ball of fire which had caught Neville's leg. Ginny grabbed him and pulled him back behind the rock and began furiously patting out the fire from the bottom of his trousers.

Neville winced and looked down to examine the damage.

The bottom of his trousers on his left leg had been burned right off and part of the fabric had melted into his skin. The skin that had been visible was black and charred. He began to feel light headed and had to force himself to look away.

"Neville!" cried Ginny, as she began searching for something in her knapsack to wrap around his leg.

"I'll be fine..." replied Neville, trying hard to mask the excruciating pain he felt. "'s only a superficial wound...looks a lot worse than it is."

"But Neville...if we don't do something it'll get infected!"

"_Love_, that's the least of my worries now."

Neville took a deep breath, collected his composure and stepped out once more to face the dragon. He actually had more time to observe the dragon closer this time. It was definitely some sort of exotic dragon and looked as though it were a rare breed but the thing that stood out the most about it was the bright, glowing orange symbols emblazed on it's black hide.

The dragon's nostrils flared and it's brow lowered even more, so much that it's bright, yellow eyes were mere slits, locked in on Neville.

"I-I mean no harm!" shouted Neville, as though the dragon could understand him.

The dragon's head snapped up and it raised itself to it's full height, Neville watched in awe as the dragon towered over him, standing at least fifty feet high. Neville's awe soon turned to terror as the dragon immediately blew another fire ball at him, this time it had singed part of his face- which he felt instantaneously. He screamed and fell back as the dragon continued to breathe fire, with seemingly no end in sight.

"WELL WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" screamed Ginny as she shoved Malfoy out of safety and into the line of the dragon's fire. "GO HELP HIM!"

Malfoy crept along outside of the dragon's flames and snuck behind him while Ginny followed.

Neville saw what they were doing and began to shake his head furiously and motioned for them to go back but it was too late. Moments later, the dragon- smarter than Neville had taken him for- had figured out what was going on, sharply turned his head and began to blow fireballs toward Malfoy and Ginny. They both jumped in either direction, just barely missing the flames.

"HEY!" shouted Neville waving his arms frantically, trying to persuade the dragon to come for him instead. "OVER HERE!"

The dragon's head snapped back around toward Neville, it was growing even angrier. Neville had to think of a way to distract the dragon long enough so it would cease to blow flames, even if it was for a second, which would give Neville just enough time to gain it's trust.

The dragon's lips curled back, revealing sharp, jagged teeth and just as it prepared to blow flames again, Neville could hear Ginny shout an unintelligable spell which flew up toward the dragon. It turned and watched as the jet of icy, blue light hit it in right in the eyes, momentarily blinding it. It began to howl as it's head whipped around wildly, flames wildly emitting from it's nostrils in every direction.

"NEVILLE, GET OUT OF THE WAY!" shouted Ginny.

He leapt out of the way just in time and attempted to stun the dragon but missed. The dragon, now even more furious than before seemed to have it out for Neville as it began to trot toward him, eyes narrowed threateningly. It lowered it's head to where it was near Neville's level and prepared to turn Neville into a crispy snack.

Neville used his wand to shield himself against the flames as Ginny and Malfoy both frantically began firing off various spells and curses to subdue the dragon.

His mind began running wildly. How were they ever going to get out of this mess? They weren't properly trained nor near knowledgable enough on dragons to come up with something in such short notice. He could feel himself begin to panic, but managed to push it deep down. He couldn't afford to panic now. He had a job to do- people to take care of, a _war to win_.

"AESTUO FLAMO!" he bellowed.

Suddenly flames flew out of Neville's wand and launched straight at the dragon, who surprisingly backed away with fear, it's eyes wide.

"AHA!" Shouted Neville, his wand still pointed and flames still firing out, "NOT SO FUN WHEN YOU AREN'T THE ONE BLOWING THE FLAMES!"

Ginny and Malfoy ran over to him.

"I want you two to step back," he began. "I think I've got him shocked enough to do what I need to..."

He finally broke the spell and slowly advanced toward the dragon, who stared at him, eyes still narrowed but seemingly more calm.

Neville placed his hands in the air as he advanced toward it and stopped about five feet from it, withdrew his wand and tossed it toward the dragon.

The dragon bent down and began to sniff his wand. It looked up at Neville and sniffed the wand one more and then- astonishingly, considering how much trouble it had put them all through- used it's nose to knudge Neville's wand back to him.

"Oh thank god!" replied Ginny, as she ran up to Neville, now that it was safe.

The dragon took a few paces back and slowly turned it's head toward the cave, as if granting them access.

"T-thank you," replied Neville, as he lowered his head to the dragon and motioned for Ginny and Malfoy to follow.

000000000000

Back at the cottage most of the adults had slowly reamerged from their bedrooms as it had become much harder to continue sleeping seeing as what had been going on.

Nelie had begun cooking breakfast for everyone, Molly and Tonks were glued to the radio for any sudden news breaks while Arthur, Sirius, Remus and Augusta were conversing quietly in the den away from everyone else.

"Your boy works for the ministry," inquired Augusta sharply. "Has he any idea of where the resident's of St. Mungo's have disappeared to? When Neville and I went to investigate that letter he received of their _'recoveries'_ they were nowhere to be found...in fact, the entire hospital had been abandoned except for Death Eaters."

Arthur shook his head.

"Your guess would be as good as mine."

"We can only hope that they are safe," began Sirius. "I am sure we will be receiving answers soon enough."

"Any recent news from Albus?" asked Augusta.

"Nothing we haven't already heard," answered Remus. "Severus was supposed to send a patronus to Dumbledore when he had reached the Isle of Mors but he may have decided not to as it's a rather risky move."

"I still say we ought to be up there with those poor children," replied Augusta, shaking her head slightly. "I have complete and utter faith in my grandson but the boy is so fragile- used to, even the sight of his own shadow would petrify him...I believe that part of that is my fault. I sheltered him too much and then when push came to shove- I shoved and I shoved that boy hard into the real world. It was all too much for him to take in..."

Augusta sighed and began to adjust the fancy watch on her wrist.

"He's a good boy, Augusta," replied Sirius. "You have raised him well."

"_Well of course I have_," she huffed, straightening herself up to a perfect poise. "I only want the best for him. I've only wanted the best for all of my boys."

"It's definitely shown," replied Arthur, smiling kindly.

"All this nonsense that Neville is involved in," she began quietly. "I am going to put a stop to it _immediately_. I didn't raise him to show signs of weakness. That is _not_ the Longbottom way."

Sirius and Remus looked at each other warily.

"He's going to need a lot of support and understanding. Right now he feels as though everyone is against him. We need to encourage him to make his own choices- albeit healthy ones and to work to the road of recovery on his own rather than tell him what to do," replied Remus.

"Exactly," agreed Sirius. "We need to let him know that while we don't understand exactly what it is he's going through that we are here for him and just _listen_ to him rather than _tell _him what we think."

"He's a lot more stubborn now than he used to be," began Augusta. "It's taken him this long to begin to develop a little of a backbone. We always used to believe he was a squib. He didn't show any signs of magic until he was eight years old. It seems he's always received the short end of the stick. He's proved to me, none the less, how amazing he truly is. Frank and Alice, I know- would be very proud."

"That they would," agreed Sirius.

Suddenly there was a light rap on the door and Francis entered.

"Hope I'm not interrupting?"

"Of course not!" replied Sirius. "Come, join us."

"Where have you been?" asked Remus.

"I just returned from Hogwarts," he answered. "Severus is on his way to the Isle of Mors as we speak."

They all sat in silence.

"Severus made me an unbreakable vow," replied Francis quietly.

At this everyone's eyes widened.

"What?" asked Remus.

Francis nodded.

"To protect Neville no matter what the cost. If anyone can guarantee and provide the best form of guidance and protection, it's Severus."

"Bless him," replied Augusta.

"You look tired," replied Arthur. "You should get some sleep."

Francis chuckled.

"I wish I could...I will catch up on some rest as soon as we get note those children are safe."

They continued to converse back and forth quietly until a strange light shone in through the window, lighting up the otherwise darkened room. They all exchanged glances until Remus finally got up to further investigate.

"_Dear Merlin_!" he replied, to which the others immediately jumped up and crowded around the window to see what it was Remus saw, and there, right outside the window plain as day were two patronuses staring back at them. The soft glow of a panther and a parakeet staring in at them made them all gasp in unison. There was a loud thud, as Augusta, seemingly from fright, passed out cold.

000000000000

They made their way into the cave with caution, and upon entering saw what appeared to be a boarded up tunnel. Neville knelt down and slowly began to pry at the boards.

Ginny knelt down to help him.

"Any idea where this may lead?" asked Neville, turning to Malfoy.

"It leads to Mindossanya's well."

"Are you absolutely certain?" asked Neville.

Malfoy nodded.

Neville grunted as he finally managed to pry one of the boards off.

"Well, whoever boarded this up surely meant to keep people out."

"I say we just blow the fuckers off," replied Ginny, raising her wand.

Neville grabbed her hand.

"No. We don't want to startle the dragon, for one. Remember what Charlie told us? About not using magic around dragons...the only reason we did before was because we were left no other choice...but we finally got him to trust us. Secondly, using magic to blow up these boards would only draw attention to us."

Ginny nodded with agreement.

Malfoy began pacing and kept walking back toward the cave entrance to gaze out and make sure they were still alone.

"_Where is Snape_?" he replied with frusteration. "It shouldn't be taking him this long..."

Neville had managed to pry another board off and could now see it had been blocking a deep, dark hole.

"Wonder how far down it goes?" asked Ginny quietly.

"_Only one way to find out_," grunted Neville as he pried another board off and wiped his brow.

"We've actually made pretty good timing wouldn't you say?" began Ginny as she stood up to stretch.

"Why yes..._perfect timing _in fact," came a voice that made Neville's blood run cold. "Right on schedule."

Ginny turned to Neville with fear and Malfoy's eyes looked as though they were about to bulge right out of his head.

"I've found them! The little brats are inside the cave!"

Neville jumped up and drew his wand, standing in front of Ginny.

"Why lookie what we have here?" continued the voice tauntingly, which grew louder with each step closer inside the cave. "_BOO_!"

And sure enough, no more than ten feet separated Bellatrix LeStrange from the three startled young wizards.

Her dead eyes suddenly swept over Malfoy.

"Oh..._nephew_, how pleasant to see you again...I was for sure you'd be dead by now, considering how many of us want to personally be the one who sheds your blood."

Moments later Bellatrix was joined by Jessica Bloodworth, Francis' estranged wife and the large, hooded man from Neville's visions, only now he was right in front of him, in the flesh.

Neville's heart began to pound visciously, he was fearful that it would beat right out of his chest and save Bellatrix and the others who wanted him dead the trouble.

"I'd like to introduce to you, sweet children, _my father_- Althalos Bloodworth. Say hello, father."

He stood, still- as though he were a statue. His dark hood consealing his identity. Just his prescence left an unspeakably terrifying aura in the air, it was as if they were all afraid to move, blink- or even breathe.

Bellatrix suddenly began to advance toward Malfoy. He began to back up, his eyes growing wide with terror as she slowly began to corner him. She slapped him twice across both cheeks, the sound echoed off the walls of the cave as all else remained quiet.

_"You filthy, disgusting, pathetic little rat..." _she mumbled, whist glaring at him with the fire of hell in her eyes. "You had the greatest opportunity...to serve and abide by the wishes of our lord and you failed him! You failed all of us! You sicken me! You are no family of mine!"

"_Now, now Bellatrix_...don't get too carried away. We'll deal with him _later_...he's not the reason why we've come here..."

Suddenly Jessica's eyes turned to Neville as did Bellatrix's.

"Ah yes," began Bellatrix, slowly moving from Malfoy and making her way toward Neville.

"It completely slipped my mind," she continued, "you see, Jessie...I had Longbottom in quite the bind recently...we had a lot of time to..._talk_ but we have yet to finish..."

"_Oh this should be fun_," muttered Jessica, as an evil grin spread across her sickeningly pretty face.

"So Longbottom? That your girlfriend you're hiding back there? She's quite the pretty little thing..."

Bellatrix began to snake her way behind Neville and circle him menacingly. Then she brought her face right to Ginny's.

"Enjoy being pretty while you can, girl," began Bellatrix as she slinked her fingers underneath of Ginny's chin. "As we older women know, looks don't last forever...especially not when I slit your throat from ear to ear and feed your face to Fenrir!"

Bellatrix then began to howl with cruel, psychotic laughter and Jessica soon joined in.

"Don't touch her!" snapped Neville.

"Oh...and what are you going to do to stop me? _Hmmm_? Have you told your little girlfriend about our little romp? Was quite fun for me..."

"You will _never_ touch me...or anyone else I love _again_," replied Neville darkly.

"Ooooh," squealed Bellatrix, "the boy is threatening me, Jessie! _What ever shall I do_?"

"Maybe...he needs to be punished," answered Jessica.

Then without warning she snapped her wand toward Malfoy.

"CRUCIO!"

Malfoy fell to the ground and began to writhe. His screams echoed throughout the cave and caused several hundred bats to fly out into the darkness.

"STOP IT!" screamed Ginny. "STOP!"

She raised her wand to attack Jessica but Bellatrix snatched it right out of her hand.

"Why? Is this not fun for you? Or are you just upset that you aren't the center of attention, you little tramp..."

"Don't even think about going for your wand, Longbottom or she'll kill him!" snapped Bellatrix.

Malfoy's limbs began to crash against the ground with a sickening thud, his screams only grew louder as the seconds ticked by.

"STOP!" screamed Neville. "It's ME you want!"

Jessica's lips twisted into a cruel smirk as she lowered her wand. Malfoy suddenly stopped thrashing and although barely still conscious, was too weak to move.

She stepped forward, hand outstretched toward Neville.

"Give me the key."

"I wouldn't give you the key if you threatened to end my life _right here, right now_."

Jessica's smirk faltered and she glared hard at him.

"Must be the workings of Francis," she muttered. "He was always so keen on the _'never give in' _motivational speeches. I am afraid to inform you that you _will_ lose. There are more of us than there are of you...we will prevail. So just make it a little easier on yourself and give it up."

Bellatrix continued to circle around Neville and Ginny, as if she were a vulture preparing to swoop in and collect her prize.

"Leave the girl for me, Jessie!" she cooed loudly.

"You can have her," she replied. "We have no use for her..."

Neville thought hard about what he could do but before he could Althalos stepped forward, which was the first sign of movement he'd made since they first arrived.

"Foolish girls!" he bellowed, his voice seemingly magnified even more so through the thick hood. "You are wasting precious time- _allow me _to show you how it is done."

The next thing Neville knew, his entire brain seemed to implode within itself. A searing pain so indescribable swarmed his head that he immediately fell to the ground.

Bellatrix and Jessica's hysterical laughter and Ginny's screams were muffled, as though they were miles away rather than mere feet. He squeezed his eyes shut and found that he could not handle the pain anymore. He screamed at the top of his lungs and then suddenly it stopped.

Whatever curse Althalos used had simply been administered with his mind- he had no wand. Neville slowly stood up, he was shaking from head to toe. Ginny grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight.

"_I've been searching for this key...for over a hundred years...and to come to find that the only thing standing in my way is a child? I find that irrevocably insulting,_" he began, his voice low and eerily calm. The hairs on the back of Neville's neck stood up on end with each word he spoke.

"This is your last chance...to be a man and hand it over willingly," he continued.

"I've got a better idea," spat Neville. "How about you go fuck yourself! And take these two with you straight to hell!"

Jessica's face went blank as she glanced at her father timidly and Bellatrix's face remained unchanged. Silence.

The fact that Althalos' face was consealed was almost more terrifying than if Neville had been able to see the reaction on his face, because fear of the unknown could plague a person much more than what they did know.

Suddenly Althalos whipped a hand up toward Ginny and began making thrashing motions. She fell to the ground and Neville was shocked to see large gashes appearing all over her body. He was using the puncturius curse on her. Blood began to pool under her. Neville drew his wand.

"PERCUTIO!"

"Silly boy," he began darkly, "I _created_ these curses...they have no effect on me whatsoever."

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" screamed Neville.

"Hand over the key," he demanded.

Neville had been left no choice. He wasn't going to allow Ginny to suffer- let alone die, because of him. Without another second of consideration, he reached into his pocket and threw the key to him.

"See now was that so hard?" taunted Jessica.

Neville bent down and began to heal Ginny's wounds.

"_I'm so sorry Ginny_," he whispered. "_I shouldn't have let you come...you would have been safe at the cottage_."

Ginny grimaced.

"_I_ made the choice to come along, Neville...whatever happens...I brought it on to myself."

"So now what are we going to do with them, father?"

"Ohhh...I can think of _plenty_ of things!" shrieked Bellatrix.

All seemed to be at an end, but Neville suddenly felt a rush of adrenaline. He _still_ wasn't ready to give up. He truly meant it when he told himself that he would fight till the _end_.

"Our lord wants us to keep them alive..._for the time being_," he answered.

Moments later about ten more Death Eaters arrived. They immediately began cheering and rejoicing when they came upon the sight of Althalos with the key and Neville and the others rendered powerless. Neville had to think fast.

"The Dark Lord will be on his way shortly," replied a stout Death Eater with thick blonde hair. "He has made a special request for us to finish off Draco. Which, I suggested to him it may be more pleasurable for him to do the deed himself but he shows no interest."

"_Be my guest_," replied Althalos darkly, nodding his dark hood toward Malfoy's motionless body. "Although I'm afraid it won't be much of a challenge...Jessica has already taken most of the fight out of him. Not much fun in an easy kill now is there?"

"I'll do it," replied Bellatrix, as her eyes grew wide with a sick sort of joy that only someone truly evil could pull off. "It's been awhile since I've gotten to watch the very light and soul leave someone's eyes..."

She slowly walked over to Malfoy, who could only watch idly as his aunt was about to take his life. She turned back to the other Death Eaters and placed a hand on her chin as if she were deep in thought, and then began to tap her wand against her temple.

"_Hmmm_...should I make this quick or should I drag it out and make him suffer a bit?"

"Quit stalling and just get it over with!" shouted a Death Eater with a long, black beard.

She pointed her wand down at him.

"Any last words?" she asked, staring down at him mercilessly.

Malfoy said nothing.

"AVAD-"

"NO!"

Neville's feet had suddenly regained their movement and before he knew it he had flung himself over Malfoy.

"If you're going to kill someone..._kill me_. All I ask is that you give me the chance to fight you in a fair duel. Don't you get tired of killing in such a spineless, _cowardly_ fashion?"

Bellatrix's eyes grew wide with surprise and then reduced back to slits. A twisted smirk grew on her face.

"Longbottom's got some balls, you hear that boys?" she called back to the other Death Eaters, as they snickered. "He wants a duel...I suppose I should allow the boy one _final _request..."

Neville gripped his wand tight behind his back. He was ready.

"CRUCIO!"

Neville blocked Bellatrix's attack and fired one right back at her, which she blocked.

"STUPEFY!"

"CONSTRIO SPIRO!"

"EFFLECTUM!"

They continued to battle, each unsuccessfully able to hit the other until Ginny shouted out something unintelligible, which caused Bellatrix to scowl over at her.

"Neville my wand, quick!"

Neville retrieved Ginny's wand from Bellatrix's possesion, which flew directly into his hands- and tossed it to Ginny. She fired off a bat bogey hex which distracted Bellatrix long enough for Neville to stun her. She fell to the floor stiff but the only thing that had done was set off the others. Soon, curses were flying everywhere after one Death Eater had fired up the battle by administering the first curse, which had hit Ginny but Neville quickly countered it.

Neville and Ginny stood side by side, one would fire off a curse while the other repelled all of the oncoming ones, which was getting harder to do as they were easily outnumbered.

Out of the corner of his eye, Neville saw Malfoy begin to stir as he slowly stood up and began to join the battle. Although his movements were slow and delayed, as he was still weak.

Neville had managed to knock out a couple of Death Eaters with the Constrio Spiro curse but the others were much harder to single out.

Althalos waved his hand and a jet of neon green light flew toward Neville. He dodged it by mere inches and blasted a curse right back at him.

A younger Death Eater with red hair and bright green eyes grabbed Ginny by her hair and threw her to the ground, his wand digging into the back of her head.

Neville caught sight of this and ran toward him, slamming into him with all his might. They both toppled over and Neville tackled him. He shoved his wand into the other man's throat, his eyes blazing with a fire that had the Death Eater at his mercy.

"IF I SEE YOU TOUCH HER AGAIN- I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!" he screamed, his wand still pressed so hard into the other man's skin that blood began to trickle out from beneath.

Neville then placed the Death Eater under a confundus charm, which left him wandering about the cave aimlessly as the battle continued on without him.

Neville was caught up in a heated one on one battle with Jessica.

"I SEE FRANCIS HAS TAUGHT YOU WELL," she shouted.

"PUNCTURIO!"

"EFFREGO VISIO!"

A jet of black smoke emitted from Jessica's wand, which began to fill the entire cave. Neville couldn't see but curses continued flying regardless.

He followed the sound of her sinister laughter and blasted her straight on with a curse that caused her joints to cripple, rendering her powerless for the time being.

A Death Eater with long, grey hair had disarmed Malfoy and was about to curse him but before he could, Neville fired a curse at him.

"IGNUS FRICTUS!"

A large ring of fire shot out of Neville's wand and placed itself around the Death Eater, trapping him in a great cylinder of fire. His screams echoed as he ran out of the cave, spasming and flailing, desperately trying to get the flames to go out.

Bellatrix had been released from her temporary paralysis and immediately went for Ginny.

"CRUCIO!"

Ginny fell to the ground and began to scream as her limbs flew about uncontrollably.

Althalos whipped his hand up and this time a jet of white flew at Neville, who repelled it and sent it right back at him.

"FRAGORIO!"

Again, Althalos-without words, used his hands to conjur up a jet of yellow this time, Neville dodged the unidentifiable curse and blasted another curse toward Althalos and then redirected his wand toward Bellatrix and fired the same curse back at her.

"CRUCIO!"

Nothing happened, which only caused Bellatrix to howl with laughter.

"Idiot boy!" she began, her voice growing louder as to be audible over Ginny's increasing screams. "I've already been over this with the Potter boy...you have to mean it in order for it to take affect! That's why all of these unforgivable curses are useless to you!"

As much as he hated this woman, she was right, in order to inflict an unforgivable curse on anyone you had to mean it. He just didn't have it in him to physically harm anyone beyond repair- not even _her_, even though she had done just that to his parents. However, he _did_ have it in him to render her momentarily out of her mind and insane."

"SUSURIO!"

He had hit her directly in the head. She immediately began to shake her head, as if trying to banish the soft buzzing that was beginning to take effect. Eventually, the buzzing would gradually grow louder until it would almost become unbearable. This however, did not stop her from torturing Ginny.

Neville aimed his wand.

"OBLITO!"

The ground beneath Bellatrix tore open and the earthly debris flew up and slammed into her, hitting four other Death Eaters in the process, knocking them out instantly.

Ginny's screams finally ceased and Neville ran over to her, while still managing to repell spells that were being aimed at him. Malfoy slowly was beginning to regain some of his vigor and was duelling harder, doing the work of all three of them.

"C'mon, I've got to get you out of here..."

"RUTILIA CORPUS!"

Suddenly a handful of Death Eaters slammed down into the earth, so hard that the ground beneath them crumbled under the force- as though they had had an invisible piano dropped on top of them.

Neville looked up to see that Snape had arrived, just in time.

"_Severus_?" questioned Jessica, who had stopped firing off curses.

"_You will leave, immediately_..." replied Snape calmly.

Jessica's eyebrow shot up.

"Is that a direct order from our lord?" she snapped.

"_No_. It is a direct order from myself."

"_Whose side are you on exactly, Severus_?" she barked.

"I suggest you leave before the dark lord comes to find that you have half your men down on account of three children. He would be ever so shamed to witness such a feat..."

"_Something about you, Severus_..." began Althalos dryly, "_has never quite made sense to me_..."

"And what might that be, Althalos?"

"Where your true intentions lie...you have had these boys under your watchful eyes for seven years now and not once did you ever attempt to make a move...it would have saved our lord quite a bit of trouble."

"Surely I would think a man who has lived as many centuries as you have would eradicate such shortsights from his mind. As well, I suppose every man has his failures to conquer."

Althalos' laughter began slowly and gradually grew louder, causing the walls of the cave to softly rumble.

"_Only a fool would speak to me in such a way_."

Snape's black eyes pierced through the darkness of Althalos' hood.

"We shall find out the reality of your true intentions soon enough, Severus...until then- I believe it is fair to assume that we can remain amlicable acquaintances?"

And with that, Althalos offered a veiny, spotted, shriveled up hand- which Severus took and Neville felt his heart drop.

"Inform our lord that I have the children and will deal with them accordingly until he wishes to do so himself."

Althalos' wide, dark hood came down with a nod.

Jessica, however, was not so easily persuaded, as she stared Snape down.

"Where are you taking them?"

"Does it matter?" he replied.

"We were given _direct_ orders to keep the children here- _alive_, until our lord arrives..."

At this, Snape raised his eyebrow and returned her stare.

"Are you trying to tell me that you have never questioned, let alone went against a direct order from our lord?"

Jessica opened her mouth to speak but before she could Snape continued.

"Because if that is indeed what you are trying to suggest to me then I would counter that you are quite clearly mistaken. I assure you that these children's punishments will fit accordingly to their crimes in a fashion that will not take away any personal enjoyment from our lord doing it himself. With that being said, I bid you good day, Ms. Bloodworth."

And with that Snape grabbed Malfoy and Neville- who grabbed Ginny, and apparated.

000000000000

As soon as they reached the cottage, Neville realized with horror that he had never gotten the key back.

"Althalos has got the key!" he shouted. "I need to go back!"

Snape's head snapped toward him and his pale face seemed to lose even more color.

"And just _why_ did he come to be in possession of it?"

"He was hurting Ginny! I-I couldn't let him hurt her!"

"It is too dangerous to go back now, we only escaped by the skin of our teeth," replied Snape.

"What took you so long?" asked Malfoy.

"_That_...is_ none _of your business," he snapped.

"But what are we going to do?" asked Neville, whose panic had set in late. "I-I mean...now what? They have the key! Voldemort will soon have the key! I came this far and was _right _there to destroy it!" Now rather than panic, Neville's blood was boiling.

"I've GOT to get it back!"

"This isn't over yet," replied Snape. "Go inside. Tell the others that I went to speak with Dumbledore."

Snape apparated without another word.

They entered the cottage to be enveloped by everyone else.

Molly gasped when she saw the state they were all in, especially Ginny.

"GINEVRA!"

"It's fine, mum...really, I'm alright..."

"What did they do to you!"

"We're okay, mum...just look a little worse for wear."

"Speaking of wear..." began Ron, raising an eyebrow, "why are you all half-dressed?"

"It was hotter than Hades," replied Ginny.

"I'm just glad you all are safe!" replied Molly with relief. "Ginny, come here dear...let's get you all patched up."

Ginny followed her mother into the kitchen.

Malfoy stood in a trance-like state, staring at the floor while everyone else crowded around Neville.

"So...what happened?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah- did you fight any Death Eaters?" asked George.

"What was it like up there?" asked Maitland.

"Did you see Voldemort?"

Neville was being bombarded with questions and before he could even register what those had been to come up with any answers, he sighed and sat down.

"Snape went to speak with Dumbledore. If he hadn't of showed up we'd probably all be dead."

Hermione, who had just come out of her room due to the commotion, ran out and hugged Neville.

"I'm glad you're all okay."

"What's wrong with _him_?" asked George, nodding over to Malfoy.

"Oh...well, they tortured him...and were ordered to kill him...I'd imagine that's quite a lot to take in," muttered Neville.

"Bollocks," replied George.

There was a soft pop and Percy Weasley appeared.

"The ministry is preparing to send the battalion after the dark lord. Dumbledore will be heading to Hogwarts to prepare the students. It's happening."

Everyone exchanged dark glances.

"Shit's about to hit the fan," muttered George glumly.

It was still dark outside but slowly, the sun was starting to rise to bring in the new day.

Francis and his gran suddenly appeared, both immediately embracing him.

"Darling, I am so glad that you are alright."

"Hi gran- Francis."

"Neville...may we speak to you privately?" asked Francis.

He followed them into an empty room and as the door shut behind them, Neville broke down and confessed that he had given the key to Althalos.

"_Oh Neville_..." replied Francis warily.

"I had no choice! He was torturing Ginny and I know he would have killed her..."

"It's alright," replied Francis, forcing a smile. "You'll get it back."

"Darling," began Augusta quietly. "It seems there was _some_ truth to those letters you received about your parents..."

Neville stared at them blankly, he hadn't been able to register what they had told him.

"What?"

"Your parents sent patronuses about an hour ago," answered Francis. "_They're back, Neville."_

000000000000

**Author's Note: **Thanks all for following my story, as always and thank you for all of the encouraging words and motivation! Unfortunately, as I have just recently shared with someone...this story is about to reach it's end. And it makes me so unbearably sad to think about, but it's time. Neville's odessy is long over half-way through and it is time for him to move on, methinks. So we've got a couple of things going on in this chapter, Neville has lost possession of the key and we have learned that his parents have recovered. Which, I find I must prematurely defend- I realize this is what readers would consider _'cliche' _and originally they were not to recover in this story but I had a change of heart. Poor Neville has been through so much in my story that I decided to give him a little break, the poor boy needs a little bit of good news, a little bit of hope- to get him through the last part of his journey. So next up, chapter 33! The war against Voldemort will be on full force and we will be reintroduced to Frank and Alice! Be on the look out for it! One again, thank you...and please be sure to leave a review! Thoughts? Theories? Concerns? Give it to me! :)

P.S. FINALLY added some reliable section breaks! ;)


	34. Obstruction

**Chapter 33: Obstruction**

**Author's Note: **First of all, so sorry for the long delay once again! I just thought I would sneak a quick **AN **before this chapter, seeing as how my message may get across more clearly this way rather than putting it at the end. Unfortunately, I am very sad to say that this story is about to come to an end. I am not sure when exactly yet, but very soon. So thank you to my loyal readers who have followed this from the beginning- _and_ to those who may have jumped in a little later ;) and for leaving me all of your encouraging words and reviews!

Believe me, ending this story is going to be difficult for me- it's like my own little baby, in a way. I've given life to it, watched it grow, etc. And you all have been a part of the process which I can not thank you for enough. However, on to my main concern. I won't lie and say I wasn't disappointed with the lack of reviews for the last few chapters I have put up. I appreciate every review I get but I notice that each week I get tons of **'Favorite Story'** and **'Favorite Author'** e-mail notifications for this particular story, but no new reviews :(, which can be quite discouraging.

And I feel that as the time comes for this story to reach it's close, I need all of your support more than ever as it will be difficult for me as I will soon be suffering with** "Empty Nest" **syndrome, ha. So yeah, I am not asking for a lengthy, novel-esque review! Just let me know how I'm doing! Even if it's just one word, or a sentence! I truly love to hear what you all have to say and enjoy the theories you may have or what you feel could have played out differently, etc. Don't be shy! Merlin, even flame me if you want! It is the reviews and the feedback that I look forward to most. Now, without further wait- chapter 33. And once again, from the bottom of my heart- I thank all of you, because without my readers, there would be no **Longbottom Rising**. :) Enjoy!

000000000000

"So where are they?" asked Neville, barely above a whisper.

"At grimmauld place..." answered his gran.

"Oh," replied Neville.

"Would you like to come with us to meet them?" asked Francis.

Neville didn't answer immediately. Instead, he took to fiddling with the loose thread on his undershirt.

"I need to shower," he replied quietly.

"We'll wait," said Francis, "if you'd like to join us."

Neville stood up, forced a tiny smile, nodded at them and quietly exited.

Augusta sighed loudly.

"He's getting worse, mum..." urged Francis warily. "He's beginning to look emaciated."

Augusta began shaking her head.

"_Why_?" she simply muttered. "Why? I never dealt with any bearings of this sort with you or Frank...I am at such a loss of what to do."

"We all are, mum," replied Francis. "But we are running out of time...he's going to die if he keeps this up."

"I would hate for his parents to have to see him in the current state that he's in...it would absolutely devastate them. Maybe we should go on without him..."

Francis shook his head.

"No, mum. They requested to see their son and we will abide by that. We will not hide him from them. He needs them right now. This is their chance to get their son back- and for Neville to regain what he's been missing out on for all these years."

Augusta stared at her son, her expression unreadable.

"I have missed you, son."

Francis smiled.

"It means the world to hear you say that."

He walked over to his mother and enveloped her in a tight hug, and they held onto each other, basking in the other's long awaited arms.

000000000000

Neville slowly followed behind his Gran and Francis as they entered grimmauld place.

"Hello?" Francis called.

They slowly turned the corner and entered the dining hall, where two figures sat, anxiously bouncing their feet- awaiting their arrival.

Neville peeked inside and quickly backed away, pressing himself against the wall. He listened from outside the open door.

"Frank- Alice..._never in a million years_..." began Francis.

"Franklin!" replied Augusta with joy.

"Hello mum- Francis...how are you?" asked Frank, his voice much deeper and steadier than Francis'.

"Better now that you both are here," replied Francis.

"This truly is a miracle," began Augusta, her voice cracking slightly.

"So what on earth is the meaning behind all of this? What is the last thing you remember?" asked Francis.

"We can't...even begin to explain," started Alice, her voice was was soft and velvety- just hearing her speak caused tears to well up in Neville's eyes. "St. Mungo's was attacked and...well, we don't really even know how this all came to be...but-"

"Where is Neville?" asked Frank suddenly, cutting his wife off.

"Yes- where is he?" chimed Alice.

"He's here..." began Francis. "I just think this is quite hard for him to grasp...after all, you've both been...er, well- incapacitated for his entire life...and he's been through a lot..."

"Oh nonsense! Neville- darling?" His gran called. "Get in here this instant and come say hello to your parents!"

Neville slowly entered and drug his feet along as he made his way over to them.

"Oh for heavens- stop dragging your feet!" barked Augusta. "You haven't a ball and chain around your ankle, and stand up straight! Be proud- PROUD and cherish this moment as a true Longbottom would!"

"_Hullo_," he mumbled pathetically, when he finally reached them. He was unable to make eye contact.

"Oh my goodness," gasped Alice, as she stood up to look Neville over. "Neville? Is that really you?"

"Handsome boy," replied Frank cheekily.

"How are you?" asked Alice.

"_Been better_," mumbled Neville.

Frank and Alice exchanged puzzled glances as to why their only son wouldn't be more excited or enthusiastic about reuniting with them.

Neville cleared his throat.

"Please, e_xcuse me_."

He hurried out of the room and closed himself up in a study down the hall. He stood with his head against the door, hand still on the doorknob. His head was spinning madly. How could this be possible? He'd been told his entire life that his parents would never recover and now here they were in the flesh, and they were _normal_. It was all just too much for him.

And then the shame set in- and oh did it beat at him hard. He should have been proud- as his gran said- of what his parents did and present himself as so and put all of his other feelings aside, but he couldn't. He should have been eccstatic, overwhelmed with joy and pride but the only thing he felt was emptiness and confusion. He held back the tears and was collecting himself to go back out when there was a soft knock on the door as someone gently pried it open. It was his father.

"I know this must be quite a shock for you...may I come in?"

Neville moved back to allow his father to enter. He closed the door softly behind him.

"Where do I begin?" Frank started.

Neville remained silent and stared at his feet.

"Neville..._look at me_."

He finally found the courage to look up into a familiar set of deep, brown eyes- a pair he had known his entire life, only now there was life behind them. And they sparkled with hope.

"_Son_..." began Frank, as he reached a shaky hand to touch Neville's face but slowly withdrew it.

"Neville, I am so sorry for what your mother and I have missed out on and I promise we will make it up to you with what time is left. You _never_ left our hearts...even in the condition that we were in. I...I can't believe how grown you are. The last time we ever...held you or touched you you were just a baby..."

Neville gave his father a shy smile.

"You look so much like your mother, it's simply astonishing...but you've got my eyes and my ears," he replied with a lighthearted laugh.

Neville sighed, still unable to speak.

Frank observed his son.

"I know as of now we are nothing more than strangers to you...but you're our son- our pride and joy and the sacrifice we made was much greater than what we'd expected...we did not give ourselves away in vain...and we would have given up anything to help the cause of the wizarding world, but the greatest pain in all of this is that _we lost you_."

Suddenly Neville felt his chin begin to tremble, he could not control it. The tears that he'd so strongly willed away before his father entered had begun to set in a second time.

"Do not be afraid of us- do not feel shamed or lost...I only ask of you, to let us back into your life with open arms so we can start over and be a family once again."

Neville squeezed his eyes shut and big, fat tear drops began to trickle down his cheeks.

He hated the fact that his first encounter with his father had been at such a vulnerable moment, but not everyday was it that you got to see your parents again after irreparable spell damage had taken their minds and left them empty shells, void of all things that make one competent.

"I-I always went to v-visit," stammered Neville, through sharp breaths, trying to hold back his sobs. "I-I've needed you both terribly...I've been so l-lost and hopeless without you..."

His father smiled kindly at him and shook his head in disagreement.

"That last part _can not _be true. You could never be hopeless, son. And it doesn't matter that I have not been here to witness your life, this I _know_."

Neville observed his father, who had instantly become more handsome simply by the fact that his face was now alive and animated with emotion and movement, rather than frozen in a state of blank stares. His hair- although still a mixture of gray and white, was combed neatly. He was still very gaunt, but Neville imagined he and his mother both would begin to appear younger and healthier as time went on.

"I suppose your mother and I could pass for your grandparents in our current state, yeah?" joked Frank.

Neville wanted to laugh, but it was caught in his throat.

"Everything will get better, son. With time- all wounds will heal and we are here now. Nothing will ever keep us from you again."

Neville nodded.

"I do realize, it'll take time...for you to grow accustom to all of this and to get around to loving us...and your mother and I both understand and will give you all the space you need, to adjust. Just know, that we are here for you. And we are so, _so_ proud to have you as a son. Just because your mother and I may feel that instant bond with you as though no time has passed, do not give in to any pressure to try to feel the same. After all, no matter how long it takes we want you to develop a genuine bond with us, nothing phony or forced; and do not feel as though you need to say things to us that you aren't comfortable with and-"

But before Frank could finish, Neville threw himself into his arms, and held onto him so tight he could feel his father's pulse racing through his flimsy robes.

Neville had never wanted much out of life- he had never asked for much either, but the one thing he so desired and craved and felt he had lacked in life was unconditional love- and now that he felt he truly had that, he was uplifted and for the first time in his life, felt as though he actually belonged _somewhere_, and to _someone_.

Frank tightened his grip on his son and rested his chin on his head.

"_I love you, son_."

000000000000

When Frank and Neville returned to the dining hall, Augusta was fussing over Alice's hair.

"_Darling_," she began, tsking and clicking her tongue, as she circled her daughter-in-law, observing her from all angles. "You're still such a beautiful girl but we must do something with that hair..."

Alice just laughed.

Neville stood in the door and simply observed the moment. The smile he witnessed his mother give was the familiar, heartwarming smile he'd only seen in old photographs. It truly did light up an entire room, and her full beauty had returned with her whenever the spell had been broken.

Alice's hair, although still white- was no longer thin and ratty. It was thick and lively and long.

"I promise you, Augusta, that I will do something with it as soon as I can muster."

"Oh mum," snapped Francis. "Leave her alone."

"It's quite alright, Francis," giggled Alice. "I take it with kindness that your mother cares so much to tell me exactly how it is and not beat around the bush."

With an encouraging smile and wink from his father, Neville approached his mother.

"_Mum_," he began. "Hello..."

"Hello sweetheart," she replied, smiling at him, her blue eyes sparkling with joy.

"So...how have you been?"

Neville felt his cheeks grow pink and he had the sudden urge to bash his head into the wall until he dropped dead. What sort of a question was that? It's not as though the woman had been estranged or off on some sort of extended vacation, she'd been, for lack of a better term- a vegetable, one who happened to resemble a once fully functional human being.

Mortified, Neville glanced at her awkwardly, hoping she'd ignore his stupidity.

Alice smiled at her son and did not appear embarrassed for him in the slightest.

"I have been lost, subdued in a state that disabled me from living- but now, I have been blessed to get my life back. And to be reunited with my baby, who is now a dashing young man who I look forward to getting to know."

"Well," began Francis, "shall we return to the cottage so you can see the others? They are all anxious to see you and we have a lot to fill you two in on."

Frank and Alice took hands and nodded.

"Neville? Are you ready?" asked Francis.

He nodded.

Moments before they apparated, his mother reached her hand out for him to take, and he gladly took it.

000000

"Althalos tortured the girl...so Longbottom gave up the key."

Dumbledore nodded darkly.

"I feared such would happen," he replied softly.

"The children are safe but with this turn of events, things will reach catastrophic proportions..."

"Severus...I have asked much of you over the years and for such I fear I can never repay my debt..."

"There is no debt to be repaid, Albus," replied Severus softly. "You have done more for me than you realize."

Dumbledore smiled at the potions master kindly, his blue eyes twinkling.

"You do know that you are my closest ally, Severus?"

He nodded.

"I must share with you, something that I trust you will not repeat."

"_Headmaster_..."

"This is a secret I had always intended to take to my grave but not all secrets deserve to be buried..."

"Albus-"

"Harry was never meant to survive the attack that fateful night..."

"That is common knowledge, Headmaster-"

"Severus- you do not understand...when Voldemort cast the killing curse upon him...parts of his soul embedded into Harry. If Voldemort dies, Harry will die with him."

The potions master stared at the old wizard, his black eyes blank at first, but then something began burning within and his face fell, producing a mixture of helplessness and fury.

"You've known all this time...and have told no one?"

The headmaster nodded.

"So the boy's battle is already lost...and has been this entire time?"

"The battle is not lost, Severus...it is simply a sacrifice he will come to realize he must make."

Snape slowly began to shake his head but remained silent.

"It is a very tragic means of end to a tragic beginning but that can not be helped. It weighs too heavily upon my heart to even think of it..."

Suddenly Snape slammed both of his fists onto Dumbledore's desk.

"LILY MADE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE TO SAVE HIM! SHE GAVE HER LIFE SO HE COULD LIVE!"

"It angers me as well, Severus...but it does not appear to me as though there is any way around this. Harry and Voldemort are intertwined by means of the darkest intent, pieces of Voldemort survive and grow within the boy. Whether or not it was intentional, it is imminent."

Snape slowly backed away and began to pace fervently.

"I do realize, more than you will ever know, Severus...that there is a side to you that you hide- that you have shut away from the rest of the world. I have seen _that man_, Severus- and it was Lily Evans who brought that side of you out for the world to see and when she died, that part of you died with her. I may be old- though not foolish. I know, that deep down you care strongly for Harry Potter, as he is the only part of Lily that you have left."

Severus slowly turned, and glared harshly at the headmaster.

"_Do not speak_...as though you know me."

"Oh but I do, Severus. I see right through you and sense the torment that you feel with each day that passes. A lost love is hard to forget- I do believe, most of us have had one and life never quite goes on the same afterward..."

Albus paused and observed the younger man.

"And now that I have revealed Harry's fate to you...you fear losing Lily for good, which has left you enraged and hateful toward me. I wish there were more I could do but life is cruel in such, that while a person can _give _and _give_- it only continues to _take_..."

Severus finally took a seat and stared at the headmaster, he was numb and his black eyes were reduced to watery slits.

"Whether this is a decision that is agreed upon or not, I made it because I felt it too cruel to be the holder of this boy's fate. He has been through so much in his short life, I figured, why add one more card in the tragic hand this boy has been dealt. It is not fair- nor is it my place to say when this boy's life will end. You may see it as cruel and heartless, but I can not change what has already been done. If it gives you any comfort at all, Severus...this will haunt me and will surely become the death of me."

The two wizards sat in silence. And for the first time in a number of years, Albus Dumbledore was at a loss for words.

000000000000

"Frank, Alice...I'd like to _reintroduce_ you to my children, your niece, Cornelia and nephew, Maitland."

Nelie hugged her aunt and uncle.

"It's Nelie, by the way," she replied cheekily.

"Oh dear," began Alice. "The last time we saw you two you were _this_ tall. I reckon you probably don't remember us though. How are you, both?"

"Heavens to Betsy!" exclaimed Molly, as she rushed over to hug Frank and Alice.

"Why hello, Molly- you haven't aged a bit," replied Frank with a wink.

"Oh stop it!" answered Molly with a slight blush.

"Frank, Alice...it is an honor to have you both back," replied Arthur, sticking out his hand to them.

"So...please don't think me rude for asking..." continued Arthur. "But how did this come to be...errr..." he paused and looked at his wife, who jabbed him in the ribs.

"What Arthur _means_ to say is welcome home!"

Alice laughed.

"We aren't so sure ourselves what happened. St. Mungo's was attacked, so we were told and the next thing we knew we woke up at the Ministry where apparently all of the residents of St. Mungo's were quarantined for examinations and interrogations but Frank and I would not be having any of that. We would expect an explanation but sometimes one simply can't be given."

Everyone crowded around Frank and Alice, welcoming them without judgement. They happily chatted with everyone and listened intently as their fellow order members spoke of their lives; and it was then that it really set in how much time had gone by and how much they had truly missed out on.

Finally, Neville got up the courage to introduce Ginny.

"Mum...Dad...this is my _fiancée_, Ginny Weasley."

Ginny beamed at them and stuck out her hand for them to take.

"It is an honor to meet you both. You son is absolutely amazing and I am honored to soon be his wife."

"You make a beautiful couple," replied Alice.

At this Neville's cheeks burned.

"We'll soon be welcoming you to the family!" gushed Molly.

"Alright, listen up everyone!" began Sirius, raising his voice so all eyes were on him. "I'd like to officially call this meeting to order, but before we begin we have two _very_ special and unexpected guests joining us today..."

At this Alice and Frank rolled their eyes.

"Ah, I see not much has changed," teased Sirius, "Frank and Alice never were much for attention. It goes without saying, that we are all overjoyed and grateful to have you back with us and while your recoveries may remain a mystery, nor does it matter- the only thing of importance is that you are here. The order welcomes you back."

Everyone began to clap and cheer and Alice began to blush and buried her face into Frank's shoulder.

"Now...as you all know the real reason that we are here isn't quite so pleasant," Sirius paused and observed the quiet room. "The key is no longer in our hands and we must fight to get it back. Albus is preparing the staff and students of Hogwarts for battle, the ministry is preparing their battalion and we must do our part to keep Voldemort from unlocking whatever it may be that the key has kept locked up for so long..."

"_So you did find it_," replied Alice softly, turning to Neville- her eyes widening slowly.

He nodded.

"Dumbledore will be arriving shortly to give us specific orders on what he wants us to do, until then we will await his arrival right here."

Hermione raised her hand.

"What other precautions are we taking at the moment?"

"As of right now?" he asked. "We're running purely on adrenaline and a spot of good luck, sweetheart."

Hermione looked greatly displeased with his answer but remained silent.

"So, Neville...how did you lose possession of the key?" asked Charlie.

"It's simple," replied Neville warily. "Althalos Bloodworth began to torture Ginny. I-I had no choice...I wasn't just going to let him keep hurting her!"

"Who tortured my baby?" asked Molly threateningly.

"It's alright, mum," replied Ginny.

"No it's not alright!"

"Calm down, dear," replied Arthur. "She's safe now."

Charlie began to click his tongue.

"_Althalos Bloodworth_...we're lucky he didn't kill her simply for kicks. That is one seriously deranged wizard. Very few survive encounters with that fella."

"How are we supposed to get the key back without getting killed?" asked Ron.

"We'll worry about that later," replied Sirius. "Right now we just need to keep it together and plan out some sort of strategy..."

Neville blocked out the remainder of the meeting, he simply couldn't concentrate and besides, he already had a plan on how to get the key back, he didn't need anyone else to help him. It was his fault the key fell into the wrong hands in the first place and it was his responsibility to get it back- no matter how dangerous it may prove to be.

"Can I talk to you for a moment, _alone_?"

Neville snapped out of his daze. It was Harry.

"Sure."

Neville followed him outside.

"So what's up, mate?"

"I know what I need to do," replied Harry softly.

"And what's that?"

Harry looked up solemnly, his green eyes sparked with fear but also with acceptance.

"_I'm_ what Voldemort wants..."

"No, Harry-"

"There's no other way I'll have it, Neville-"

"But there must be another way, Harry! You heard Sirius, Dumbledore will be here shortly. He'll think of something."

"I just don't see any reason for anyone else to get hurt or lose their lives over me...I need to go to him and then just kill him once and for all. I and I alone."

"You can't do everything alone, and this is one of those times. Look, I'm already in on this too...so you won't be able to get rid of me. And who says anyone has gotten hurt or died _for you_? or because of you? It's for the good of the wizarding world, everyone has got a choice, a say in who they want to be and whether they want to fight. People make their own choices. You need to quit acting as though you are the only person dealing with this. We all are, Harry and you can't control it, you just have to learn to live with it. We are all in this together, no matter what happens. And as long as I'm still breathing you will not go seeking out Voldemort. I won't let you."

"But I'm tired of hiding, Neville! I'm tired of Voldemort hurting and killing the people around me to try and get to me! That wouldn't be happening if I just went to him!"

"You aren't hiding, Harry. _Cowards _hide and you are definitely not a coward."

"My decision has been made," replied Harry.

Neville bit his tongue, he was beginning to lose his patience. Harry had always been stubborn about certain things and had the mentality of a tragic, fallen hero; always wanting to do things alone, never wanting any assistance, always believing that negative outcomes were on account of him or because of him and only affected him. He had complete tunnel vision at times, and Neville was not going to stand by and listen to such nonsense.

"How do you plan to take him out then?" asked Neville.

"I'll think of something."

"It's not that simple, Harry! You have said yourself on multiple occasions that all those other times was pure luck, plain and simple! Well, now is different- you can't defeat Voldemort with just luck! It takes precision, planning, strategy! Don't you get it?"

"I can do this!"

"So say you run off and find Voldemort and he kills you! Then what? We need you, Harry! You're our leader and we need you to guide us!"

"Maybe I can communicate with Nagini and-"

"FUCK NAGINI!" screamed Neville. "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME!"

Harry froze and stared at the other boy in shock, his mouth hanging open.

"YOU AREN'T THE ONLY PERSON DEALING WITH ALL OF THIS! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME? WE ALL ARE! WE ALL FEEL A CERTAIN DEGREE OF WHAT YOU FEEL! QUIT STANDING AROUND ACTING AS THOUGH YOU ARE THE ONLY PERSON WHO HAS LIFE OR DEATH DECISIONS TO MAKE! THE ONLY THING THAT SEPARATES YOU FROM THE REST OF US IS THAT STUPID SCAR! YOU ARE NO DIFFERENT THAN US! WE ARE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT!"

Harry stared at him, his green eyes wide and his mouth gaping open.

"Have you not heard a word I just said?" asked Neville, lowering his voice. "Look, I know how hard it must be for you, you feel as though you've got the whole world on your shoulders but let the rest of us take some of that away for you. Let us make choices too. Let us help you and quit trying to do everything alone. You'll get your chance to defeat Voldemort soon enough, only you'll have us behind you."

Harry sighed.

"Oh...and sorry for yelling at you, Harry. Lost my temper a bit. It's been a very stressful time."

"I understand."

"Everything alright out here? We heard shouting."

The boys turned back to see Frank standing halfway out the door, his wand arm raised as though ready to attack- which he'd have had a wand to attack with but Neville broke it at the Department of Mysteries in his fifth year.

"Yeah. Everything is fine...Dad," he stammered.

Neville cringed at the way he said _dad_ it was so weird for him to have to say it and even more misplacing to actually hear himself say it considering he'd never had a father.

"Boys will be boys," chimed Alice from inside. "They're fine, darling. Come back inside."

They waited until they were alone.

"Neville, I just want you to know how happy I am for you. I'm glad that you have your parents back. They seem very nice. It's got to be a bit...strange though, yeah?"

"It's very strange. When Gran and Francis told me about my parents I couldn't believe it but I didn't really have time to process it to even _disbelieve_ it, you know? I mean, we went to meet up with them straight away. So it was just like..._'Hi, here we are'_."

"You'll get used to it."

"Yeah," replied Neville.

"How much time you reckon we've got?"

"For what?"

Harry stared hard at the other boy, examining him closely before continuing.

"Until Voldemort attacks."

"Hopefully just enough time for me to get the key back."

"And how are you going to do that? Nearly the entire order is here and they're watching us both like hawkes. You'll never get away unnoticed."

"That's why I need your help."

000000000000

The plan was set and Neville was ready. The others were preoccupied with other things while still awaiting Dumbledore so he thought he'd be able to make a clean escape.

"Neville darling," called his mother from the kitchen, where she along with his father, gran, Francis, Remus and Sirius were quietly catching up. "We're getting ready to eat some lunch, join us?"

He had been in the sitting room with Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and George, playing a game of exploding snap.

"No thanks," he quickly replied. "Not hungry."

Neville's gran suddenly appeared, her face contorted angrily as she grabbed him by the elbow and drug him into the kitchen.

"_Neville Archibald Regnauld Longbottom_-" she began firmly, "You will sit down and eat this instant-"

"You can't order me around anymore, gran! I'm over it! I'm over everyone else trying to control me-"

"Now listen here-"

"_No_," he muttered darkly, glaring darkly at her- and he could have sworn he saw her shrink, just ever so slightly.

"This has gone _far enough_," she continued, "you've managed to whittle yourself down to nothing but skin and bones and I will not stand for this behavior any longer-"

"Why don't you go find something _productive_ to do-" retorted Neville nastily, "like torturing someone else with your incessant nagging and pitiful lectures-"

He could hear Sirius and Remus gasp softly but no one else said a word, while Frank and Alice could only exchange puzzled glances.

And then it happened.

Augusta slapped her grandson so hard across the face his head would have spun completely around had it been possible.

Neville held a hand up to where she'd slapped him and refused to make eye contact with her.

"MUM!" shouted Frank, as he jumped out of his seat but Francis held him back.

"He deserved it," she replied angrily. "Your son is out of control. Now that you both are able to raise him you should teach him a thing or two about _respect_."

"You're going to regret that..." spat Neville.

"That a threat?" asked Augusta, her eyebrow raised.

"It didn't hurt..." he taunted, finally turning his dark eyes to burn into hers. "You're going to have to try harder than that."

Augusta's normally poised, tall stature seemingly faded away as she faced off against whatever had possession of her grandson. Her eyes went blank and she simply stared.

"Think hitting me'll knock some sense into me, yeah? Just like grandad always used to- remember?

Augusta's eyes grew wide with horror and she began slowly shaking her head.

"No- oh darling...I-"

"Leave me alone!"

"Your grandfather- he never meant it-"

"_Whatever_," snapped Neville.

"Please, darling? I want to help you...let me? Neville I-"

He stormed out of the kitchen before she could finish.

"What in Merlin's name was that all about?" asked Alice.

"Mum? What's going on?" asked Frank.

"I'll go try to talk to him," replied Alice, as she stood up but she was gently pulled back down into her seat by Francis.

"Alice- I know you just want to understand and be there for him but right now you _can't_. You haven't been around- he's been through so much and is dealing with something much bigger than any of us realize. He's already so confused and so full of anger and distraught with so many conflicting emotions that having either you or Frank try to console him would most likely just set him off further. I hope you don't take this too much to heart, he'll open up to you both- it just may take some time. After all, I haven't even known the boy that long myself and it took him quite awhile to open up to me and gain trust in me. It was very difficult for him, he's a very private person."

Alice nodded with agreement, although tears were beginning to gather in her eyes.

"Mum?" Frank questioned. "Are you going to tell us what that was all about?"

Augusta stood up and exited the kitchen without answering.

"Will someone please tell me what is going on with my son?" asked Frank.

"He has an eating disorder," answered Francis. "He's very sick."

"An _eating disorder_?" questioned Alice, her brows furrowed with dismay.

"Yes," answered Francis. "And this has been going on for quite awhile, probably for longer than anyone realized. He hid it from everybody but now that we all know he feels threatened and is more closed off than ever. It's really starting to take its toll on him. He's growing weaker and has these..._outbursts_ as you've just witnessed. Everyone is constantly walking on eggshells around him. He needs our help and he needs you both, more than you'll ever know but the situation is delicate and must be handled properly or he's liable to snap for good."

Alice frowned and grabbed her husband's hand.

"No one has any idea on when he's last eaten anything...and even if he were to, he'd only sneak away to toss it all up. He can't go on much longer like this. It's gotten way out of hand and has been that way for awhile."

"He's a very strong willed boy," began Remus, "the problem is just that his level of confidence is so little that he's been holding himself back from greatness. He simply doesn't believe he's good enough or that he'll fail at anything he attempts."

"He's very well mannered, well spoken...so quiet though. You almost wonder sometimes what is going on in that head of his," added Sirius.

"I'm going to go check on him," replied Francis.

He exited the kitchen and found Neville talking to Ginny in the den.

"Come with me," he replied quickly.

"Why?"

"_Right now_."

"I'm busy."

Francis grabbed him by his collar and hoisted him up.

"This won't take long."

They walked down the hall to the washroom, Francis closed the door behind them and conjured up a scale with his wand.

"Get on."

"No!"

"Don't you want to see how far you've come?" replied Francis, "Don't you want to see how many more pounds you've got to lose? Won't that make you happy?"

Neville glared at him.

"_You're sick_," he spat.

"No _you _are!" shouted Francis. "You are dying! And we are all beside ourselves with what to do to help you!"

Neville crossed his arms over his chest.

"Please?" asked Francis. "I would just like to know- how far this has come...and what needs to be done to stop it."

Neville glared but said nothing and slowly walked over to the scale.

"If I get on...will you leave me alone?"

Francis did not answer but instead watched with little hope as Neville stepped on the scale and the needle settled just barely over one hundred and twenty-nine.

"_Oh Neville_," replied his uncle sadly.

"Neville stepped off.

"Don't tell gran...please?"

"This has been your secret for far too long- look at yourself. When I met you you were a perfectly healthy- if not already a little on the thin side- teenage boy...and now..."

Neville sighed.

"I'll never be good enough. All my life no one has ever been happy with me- I've always managed to screw things up. I-I figured taking control of my life would bring...people to respect me or to at least acknowledge me...I got tired of being invisible..."

"That isn't true."

Neville ignored him.

"Can I show you something?" asked Francis, he walked away from Neville and with the flick of his wand conjured up a full length mirror, just as he had with the scale.

"Go over there and tell me what you see."

Neville slowly walked over and stared at himself with hatred.

"Fat...disgusting...I see a failure..."

"That is what _you_ see..." began Francis quietly, "but now can I show you what _I _see?"

Neville turned to his uncle with confusion and watched as his uncle pointed his wand toward the mirror and muttered a spell under his breath. Neville closed his eyes, unable to face whatever it was that was about to be revealed to him. He wasn't sure he wanted to see.

"Face yourself," replied Francis.

Slowly, Neville opened his eyes and saw someone staring back at him that he didn't recognize. This stranger had been wearing his clothes, had the same curly brown hair, the same thick black glasses and the same confused expression he himself had been wearing.

It took Neville a moment to realize he was staring at himself, his mouth dropped open with shock- this hadn't been the fat, slob he saw every time he braved himself to look in a mirror.

Suddenly his eyes grew wide. He was finally seeing what his mind refused to show him- what everyone else saw. A sad, worn down, skin and bones version of himself- he looked like death warmed over. His arms were so thin they looked as though simply holding his wand was straining. He lifted up the leg of his trousers and examined his knobby legs, which looked about to give in and finally he lifted up his shirt- and where he used to see gobs of fat hanging he saw a concave stomach, with visible ribs and jutting hip bones that could slice through metal.

He stared at himself in horror. He could not believe this is what he had become. He could not believe this is what the voice in his head wanted him to be- and not only that but to go even further than he already had. Neville turned to his uncle with fear.

"Am I going to _die_?" he asked, so terrified that he could barely get the words to escape.

Francis grabbed his nephew and enveloped him in his strong arms.

"No...you aren't going to die, Neville. We aren't going to let anything happen to you."

"I-I had no idea..." mumbled Neville, still unable to get past the shock of what he'd just seen. "I didn't know it had gotten so bad..."

"It's alright. It will be okay."

"Will you help me? I can't do this alone...I still...I don't want to...but I have to-"

"We're here, Neville. We all are."

000000000000

Neville's head was spinning, what all had just happened- his brain couldn't even register it. He had to just keep going- push past the trauma of everything and just go.

He quietly thanked Francis and excused himself, stating that he needed to be alone; which Francis wholeheartedly accepted. And it was then he made his escape.

He apparated to Hogwarts and ducked beside the astronomy tower, he took a deep breath and pulled out a tiny vial of polyjuice potion, dropping in a few strands of Francis' hair- which he'd inconspicuously gathered as he held and comforted him just moments ago.

Neville couldn't help but feel guilty, but it had to be done.

He shook the vial as it softly hissed and knocked it back, waiting a few moments before entering the castle.

He quickly made his way to the Headmaster's office and entered, where Dumbledore and Snape immediately fell silent as they turned toward him.

"Francis- how delightful of you to join us. Severus and I were just discussing means of action to take in order to protect the students and staff of Hogwarts. I suppose the order is still awaiting my arrival?"

Neville nodded.

"I came here, Albus...to gather your opinion." He began.

Dumbledore nodded, his blue eyes twinkling eagerly, while Snape's dark eyes burned through him, as he eyed him up and down.

Neville's nerves were beginning to spark and he quickly shook them off. He continued.

"As you both know, Althalos has the key- I figure it too dangerous an act for just anyone; the risks are too high and we mustn't waste anymore time. I have decided that I will retrieve it myself. If I can get inside of Jessica's head...that will hopefully make things easier."

Dumbledore's eyebrows furrowed warily.

"That is quite an admirable decision, Francis...I must say, if anyone stands a chance at getting the key back it would be you. I have the utmost trust in you and you have my full support."

Neville turned to Snape, who was still eyeing him suspiciously, his eyebrow raised dangerously high.

"Where will I find him?" asked Neville.

"I do believe they are still at the Isle of Mors," replied Dumbledore. "I must advice that you be extra cautious- and good luck."

"Thank you."

Neville quickly left but before he reached the corridor, he heard the soft ripple of Snape's cape close behind.

"Francis- are you so sure that this is the best option?"

"It is the only way- I will not allow for anyone else to be put in this position. It is my responsibility."

Snape's dark eyes widened slightly.

"I will go," bargained Snape, his eyes reducing back to slits, which permeated through Neville's soul.

"N-no...Albus needs you-"

"Have you forgotten about the unbreakable vow already?" Snape asked darkly.

At this Neville's eyebrows scrunched.

"Er- right, of course- how silly of me," he replied, hoping that Snape would be convinced he knew what he was speaking of- even though he hadn't the slightest clue.

Snape examined him closely.

Neville wished he had had the nerve to confront Snape as himself, but he figured he would never get the chance and now was as good a time as any. He needed closure. After all, he'd endured seven years of humiliation and torture when he'd done nothing to deserve it and he wanted an answer, an explanation and now might be his only chance.

He took a deep breath.

"Severus," he began. "I must know, why you hate Neville? What has he ever done to deserve such cruelty?"

Snape's eyes sparked.

"What does that have to do with anything that is currently under way?"

"It does not sit well with me and I deserve some kind of an explanation."

Snape stared but said nothing.

"What did he ever do to deserve any of it?"

"_Neville Longbottom_," began Snape coldly, "was the most pathetic, absent-minded, blundering excuse for a wizard I have ever crossed paths with. He lacked everything that made one an exceptional wizard. He was too scared to make himself worthy of any deserving achievements- he had no sense of purpose or direction, let alone a single ounce of confidence or self-respect to prove others who tormented him wrong. He became what others saw of him and he accepted it. I haven't the time to coddle any of my students- and he was no exception. He was _weak_...cowardly...troubled beyond repair and a waste of my time-"

"You're heartless," began Neville, his eyes glazing over with tears, which he fought back.

Snape's eyebrow raised once again.

"_Heartless_?" questioned Snape, his voice dangerously low. "Is that the best word you can come up with to insult me, Francis?"

"You're a _bastard_- a sad, greasy haired, miserable, low-life bastard! You don't deserve the ground you walk on! You don't deserve to be serving along the likes of Albus Dumbledore! You're pathetic- no wonder no one likes you! You are a despicable, cruel and evil man!"

For a split second- blink and you would have missed it- Snape's eyes widened with shock, and he glared at Neville until a smirk slowly began to creep up on his face.

"If you were to have let me finish-" began Snape quietly, as his smirk faltered, "how ill I spoke of your precious nephew just moments ago, is a thing of the past. It is no longer who he is, He chose to take direction of the outcome of his seemingly bleak future and has thus far become a leader. He has grown into a brave, talented and well-adjusted young wizard who has powers far beyond what anyone could have ever expected, not only for him but for any wizard his age. He is a special breed and his powers will only continue to grow as he gains more confidence."

Snape paused and his beady black eyes burned into Neville's.

"You see...I have never actually _hated_ the boy," continued Snape. "Just as I have never hated the Potter boy. They both only chose to see what they wanted. In reality, I have watched over them both since the day they were born, prepared to step in at any moment necessary if things were to go awry. I made a promise to Albus many years ago, and from afar, I have been watchful of them as they grew up, were my tactics or teachings pleasant? No, but life is not laid out for you to get the long end of the stick. Simply because I made a promise to Dumbledore that I would protect them during their time at Hogwarts did not mean I would give them special treatment or favor them over any other student under my watch..."

Snape paused again and observed the other man, his eyes narrowed.

"A fact I'm sure you yourself as well as I, know very well- the world is a cruel place, certain events having taken place in one's life can really change them..."

Neville stood speechless, he realized his mouth was slightly agape and quickly closed it.

"I know it's you, Longbottom," replied Snape, his tone becoming more familiar. "And if you honestly thought you were going to get away with something so foolish and dangerous-"

"B-but- how-"

"I have my ways..." he replied mysteriously.

"Professor- I have to go-"

"You will return to the cottage immediately and await Dumbledore's arrival with everyone else."

"I can't! I have to get the key back!"

"_I _will go. No go on- that is an order."

"You can't make me do anything! Y-you aren't in that position...you no longer have that right- I'm not afraid of you anymore!"

At this Snape's lip curled up with amusement.

"You've finally managed to find yourself a backbone, I see."

"Damn right I have!" snapped Neville, "_no one_ is going to push me around ever again..."

Without another word, Snape grabbed the bottom of his cape and quickly whipped it up over himself- disappearing into thin air.

000000000000

"Has anyone seen Neville?" asked Ginny worriedly.

"He said he needed to get some fresh air, he needed some time alone," answered Francis.

Ginny bit her lip.

"But...he's nowhere to be found- I've checked everywhere. Even outside."

Suddenly there was a soft pop and Percy Weasley appeared.

"The Ministry has just issued an alert. You-Know-Who was spotted with his army and they are making their way to Hogwarts as we speak."

"Alright, we can't afford to wait on Dumbledore any longer," replied Sirius. "We must act now."

"_This is it_," muttered Harry, under his breath.

"Wait-" began Molly, as she turned to observe everyone crammed into the small sitting room. "Who will stay with Fred?"

"I'm coming to fight, mum."

Everyone turned to see that Fred had emerged from his room.

"No- Fred-"

"Just let him be, mum," replied Charlie. "If he wants to fight, let him."

Molly turned to Arthur who simply nodded in agreement with Charlie.

"I just want everyone to know," began Sirius. "That is has been a pleasure- and will continue to be, working with all of you and there are no finer wizards and witches that I would serve along the likes of. No matter what happens, we need to keep our eyes on Harry and Neville and protect them until the end- and not only them, but each other. May Merlin be with our souls. We'll see you all soon and good luck. Constant Vigilence!"

With one final glance at each face in the room, they all apparated, ready to jump into battle.

000000000000

Neville stepped up to the _Mirror of Erised_ for what he knew would be the last time and allowed it to show him his heart's desire. In the mirror, his reflection stood alone staring back at him. It looked identical to Neville only his reflection was crying and smiling and looked to be floating.

"Neville?"

Neville turned around to see his gran standing in the open doorway. She slowly moved forward until she was standing a little less than a foot away from Neville.

"Gran…what are you doing here? How did you know where I'd be?"

"I have my ways," she replied quietly. "After you disappeared...I knew what you'd come off to do. So I followed you. Are you alright, dear?"

"Yes…I uh, just wanted to take a minute for myself…"

His gran narrowed her eyes on him suspiciously but said nothing.

Neville sighed and turned around and used his sleeve to wipe the dust away from an old, wooden crate before taking a seat on it.

Neither one of the Longbottoms spoke.

"Gran, it isn't safe for you here…you should be-"

"Nonsense, boy! I have had more Death Eaters sent after me in the past six months than your mother and father ever had and lookit, here I stand, fit as a fiddle! I have been on the run long enough, boy…and tonight, we will finish what your parents started."

Neville looked up at his gran and noticed that there was something different about her. Something he had never seen before, something unfamiliar, yet reassuring.

His gran stood before him, her graying hair disheveled and a look of determination set on her pale face. She held her wand arm limply at her side and the other hand was on her hip.

But there was something else that was off, something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Neville," Augusta began. "Stand up."

Neville stared at her blankly. The confusion he was feeling continued to mount.

"C'mon, stand up, boy."

Neville slowly stood up.

"Now, come here," Augusta gently demanded.

Neville walked over to her and stared down at his feet. He couldn't bear to look her in the eye. He didn't think he would be able to take any more disapproving glares from her.

"Neville, _look at me_."

Neville did as he was told. He looked into his gran's face and saw that she was trying not to cry. Her frown was slowly morphing into a smile.

Suddenly, she grabbed her grandson by the shoulders and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug and for once, she was not the first to let go.

Neville finally pulled away from her and she held him still before her with an iron grip.

"Neville Archibald Regnauld Longbottom…"

Hearing his full name come from his Grandmother's lips in such a soft, airy whisper caused Neville's eyebrows to slightly rise. The only time she had ever referred to him by his full name was whenever he was in trouble.

"I am filled beyond myself with the highest measure of pride, triumph and bliss. You, my boy, have proved me, along with the rest of the wizarding world wrong in many ways. The young man you have grown up to be is much greater than anything I myself could have ever expected of you. You are a dedicated, courageous, kind and powerful wizard…your parents are going to be so proud, Neville…so very proud, as am I."

Neville stared at her, completely dumbstruck. Had his gran _actually_ said this to him? Was it an imposter? His mouth hung open and he could feel his eyes become wet with tears and a lump form in the back of his throat.

"I don't think you realize this but I love you, Neville…so very much. I am proud to call you my grandson."

"Oh, gran…I love you too!"

And with that Neville threw his arms around his Gran and buried his face in her shoulder. He began to sob loudly. After all of these years; she truly did love him. Sure she was strict and always on him about improving himself but to actually hear her say it, there was no better feeling in the world.

Augusta, for one of the first times since Neville was a small child, began to comfort him. She gently shushed her grandson and began softly rubbing his back.

"It's alright, dear. Everything is going to be alright."

000000000000

"Ah, Severus...just in time," replied Voldemort darkly. "What news do you bring to us?"

"The boy is weak," answered Severus softly, "he is distraught and vulnerable, he should be easy to defeat and then the Potter boy will be a little bit more of a challenge, the order will be guarding him quite carefully."

"_Well now_, what is the fun in a fight if there isn't a challenge to be sought?"

"I have come to report that the order is awaiting your arrival at Hogwarts. The staff and students have all been training in preparation. Though, if I may suggest, that by simply targeting those closest to the boys, you will accomplish your goals much more quickly and efficiently, and less blood will be spilled."

"But that's part of the fun!" shrieked Bellatrix, who slithered up to Snape somewhere from the cluster of Death Eaters surrounding them. "What ever has gotten into you, Severus? You used to find all of this..._amusing_, at one point in time, am I right?"

Severus ignored her and redirected his attention back to Voldemort.

"My lord," he began, as he bowed slightly. "It is of my best intentions to inform you that you are much too weak to fight. They are much larger in numbers than you realize."

Voldemort's lips lifted into a horrifying sneer, revealing his yellow, jagged teeth as his red eyes bore through Severus.

"It may be, Severus, that you are correct, but the time is now. I _will not _lose. Once I kill Harry Potter all of my strength and power will be restored to perfection and I, will reign once again."

"My lord," began Snape boldly. "I do wish to share a critical piece of information with you, straight from the mouth of Albus Dumbledore."

Voldemort's red eyes flashed greedily.

"Go on, Severus-"

But before he could continue Voldemort's head snapped toward the hoard of Death Eaters, his eyes flashing malevolently.

"Who dare speaks out of turn? And while I am collecting crucial information? SHOW YOURSELF!"

The air went dead silent.

Not even a quip was provided by Bellatrix.

Voldemort began to twirl his wand in between both index fingers as he slowly made his way through the Death Eaters, eyeing each of them as he passed by.

"Who _dares _to speak while I am speaking? Who dares believe that they have reason to even breathe without my approval? Step up to your lord, face to face and provide me with reason."

Still, no one said a word.

Suddenly a short, chubby man was shoved before a waiting, Voldemort.

"Blander, what was of such importance that you felt the need to speak without my permission?"

"N-nothing, my lord..." he bowed. "I-I apologize. It will not happen again."

Voldemort's red eyes lit up with a fiery haze.

"What makes you worthy of serving under my name?"

"My lord- I-I have always been a loyal follower. I have always-"

"SILENCE! That does not answer my question. It is in _no doubt _that everyone currently present, is a _loyal follower_...because if they were not, they would be dead. So again, I ask you, Blander, what makes you _worthy_?"

"My lord- I-I assure you, the reasons are endless- I-I-"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The man fell dead instantly.

All of the other Death Eaters exchanged nervous glances after Voldemort turned his back to them and advanced toward Snape.

"That...is what happens when you do not comply with my orders. If I were to ask each and every one of you the same thing, I would hope you could answer confidently and with great pride on why you are serving me. I can not afford to waste my time with spineless, cowardly imbeciles who can not think on their feet. If you do not know why you serve me, then you are not fit to serve me. And if you are not fit to serve me, then you are _not worthy of life_."

Everyone remained hushed.

Voldemort returned his gaze to Snape.

"I am terribly sorry about the interruption, Severus...please,"

Without missing a beat, Snape continued.

"As I am sure you realize, my lord...seventeen years ago, when you attempted the killing curse on Harry Potter, parts of your soul embedded inside of the boy-"

"Go on..."

"If you kill the boy, your quality of life could be greatly diminished- or if not worse, death."

Voldemort's eyes burned into Severus'.

"Is there any way around this? Can I extract those pieces of my soul from the boy to avoid damaging them further?"

"I am sure it is possible," replied Severus darkly. "But the means in which to do so, would be _very, very complicated_...a craft and skill in which I know not much of."

"Very well," replied Voldemort. "Your knowledge is, as always, very much appreciated Severus. This is a risk I am more than willing to take."

Suddenly Althalos stepped forward, his concealed identity, as always, hidden by a hood.

"What did you do with the children?" he asked Snape grimly.

"That is not relevant to the current standing of our precedence in this war, however, if you must know I released them to the care of the order, for they know not what is coming. If they do not see trust in me then the truth of my alliance to you would be discovered."

"I still find myself questioning, who you _truly _serve..."

"Your testament of will should no longer be questionable once we reach Hogwarts," replied Snape coldly.

"I can not wait...to be relieved of this _burden_," answered Althalos.

"_My lord_," began Snape, as he bowed down to Voldemort. "It is of my duty to ask of you if I may have a word in private with Althalos before we set off."

Voldemort responded by simply outstretching his hand, slowly with a slight gesture as though to say, "_be my guest_."

Severus led Althalos away from the others and when he was sure they were out of earshot, he wasted no time.

"If your wish is to be in command of all the wizarding world- and eventually the muggle world, then you can not go about killing whomever you choose, whenever you please as our lord does. You have got to gain their trust, coerce them into accepting your views and your rules. Make them _respect_ you, not _fear_ you."

"_Your words_, Severus Snape, are those of wisdom...which is not what I seek. Personally, I love to watch as the corruption and the fear and darkness fall over what was once...a more peaceful surrounding, with- what some would say- _less _conflict. It brings me great satisfaction to know that once I am in rule and have control of everyone's fears and secrets...I will have _endless power_."

Severus watched the hooded man closely and nodded.

"Our lord must not find out of your intentions or surely he will murder you without thought."

"That's the beauty of it," continued Althalos. "By the time this war is over, he will be so weak that he will not have the slightest as to what has happened- how his entire dream to rule this empire was stolen, right out from under his nose, by his greatest ally. It has been my plan for quite some time, Severus. He is a fool for thinking it could all be _his_."

Severus observed the hooded man with little admiration.

"So you plan to betray our lord? I am afraid I will not play any part in this meticulous child's play. It is merely a ploy of fantasy- do you actually expect to accomplish this?"

"I did not ask for your opinion, _Severus_."

"I must question, Althalos- what is stopping you? You have in your possession, the most important element of this entire quest and you have yet to act upon it."

Althalos remained silent.

Suddenly Snape's thin lips drew into a tight line and his eyes reduced to slits.

"Our lord does not know..._does he_?"

Althalos let out a low, hollow laugh, devoid of anything resounding joy, but rather psychopathy and terror.

Snape cringed.

"What do you take me as, Severus Snape? A complete imbecile?"

Snape remained silent.

"Severus! Althalos! Rejoin us!"

They both returned to see Voldemort's jagged, yellow teeth bare themselves in a terrifying grin.

"_It is time_."

Everyone followed Voldemort's gaze up into the sky as the dark mark quickly shot up in the distance.

000000000000

There had been no time to prepare. As soon as Neville and his gran reunited with the others the battle had already begun. Hundreds of Death Eaters had swarmed through the castle gates, breaking through any and all charmed barriers. Now, there was nothing protecting them from harm's way.

Neville's sweaty hand clasped on to Ginny's tightly as they ran through the thick barricade of Death Eater's. He had wanted to get her to safety, but before he could, he heard a blood chilling scream. It was Hermione.

Neville watched horrified as she collapsed to the ground, her face a swollen, bloody mess- with no Ron or Harry in sight, Neville's instinct was to run to her.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" he shouted.

"I-I DON'T KNOW! I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING!"

Neville and Ginny each took an arm around their neck and helped her up.

"GINNY, TAKE HER OVER BY THE STAIRCASE!" he instructed. "I'LL COME CHECK ON YOU IN A MINUTE!"

All his vision entailed of was a sea of black- the Death Eaters greatly overcast them and his hope was sinking quickly. No one from the order was in sight.

He had to do what he could and just hope for the best.

"BLASTORPHIO!" he bellowed out, successfully hitting a Death Eater who was about to curse him. "RIGOPORUS!"

He pushed and shoved his way through, randomly firing off every spell, charm and curse that came to him as he went. Some of them hit and some of them missed but he was beginning to feel as though he were alone in this battle, he had yet to see anyone else since Hermione.

All of a sudden a menacingly low and hungry growl broke out over the thunderous battle cries and the next thing everyone knew, Fenrir Greyback soared in through a window. Shattered glass flew in all directions and the foul werewolf landed in the center of all the fighting and stood, simply searching the room, deciding who should become his first victim.

The great hall- where was once a place filled with joyous memories of innocence and daydreams of the future- was now a battleground, a blur of red, blue, purple, yellow, white and green as all different sorts of jinxes, spells and curses flew aimlessly about. The air was contaminated with bloody screams, malicious laughter and clouds of smoke and dust from the crumbling walls.

Neville felt someone grab his sweater and yank him back. Before he had time to properly react, he felt himself being spun around and found himself face to face with Ron, who looked relatively unharmed except for a small cut near his right eye.

"NEVILLE!" he shouted. "HOW'RE YOU HOLDING UP?"

"I'M MANAGING," he replied.

"HAVE YOU SEEN HERMIONE AND GINNY?"

"YES, THEY'RE SAFE NOW. ALTHOUGH- HERMIONE'S HURT- NOT SURE HOW BAD YET-"

"WHERE IS SHE?"

"GINNY IS TAKING CARE OF HER."

LISTEN, NEVILLE…" began Ron even louder. "IF ANYTHING SHOULD HAPPEN TO ME…"

A loud crash shook the room as part of the wall collapsed.

"IF ANYTHING SHOULD HAPPEN TO ME…" he continued. "I WANT YOU TO MAKE SURE HERMIONE AND GINNY ARE SAFE!"

Neville stared at the ginger haired boy with narrowed eyes, straining to hear him.

"WHAT?" Neville shouted.

"I WANT YOU TO MAKE SURE HERMIONE AND GINNY ARE SAFE! CAN YOU PROMISE ME THAT? PROMISE ME THAT, NEVILLE!"

Neville stood for a moment, bewildered and at the same time pleased beyond himself that Ron would ever consider _him_ of all people to take on such a task.

"YOU HAVE MY WORD, RON!"

Ron smiled and with a pat on Neville's back he was swallowed by smoke.

Neville threw himself back into battle and was barely missed being hit by a jet of yellow light that whizzed just _inches_ above his head.

"STUPEFY!" he shouted at an unidentifiable Death Eater.

"NEVILLE, LOOK OUT!"

He turned at the sound of the voice and saw Maitland running toward him, but before Neville could react, Maitland had barreled into him with such force that they both flew, landing hard on a pile of rubble. Maitland had pushed him out of the way just in time, as the sharp sound of a sword hitting the ground where they stood moments before rang in their ears.

"WHERE ARE THE OTHERS?" shouted Neville.

"WE'RE ALL SCATTERED ALL OVER THE PLACE!" he shouted back.

Maitland offered his hand and pulled Neville up.

"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!"

Before Neville could tell him to do the same, Maitland disappeared though billows of smoke, just as Ron had earlier.

Neville stood for a moment, looking around, searching for a familiar face- anybody, but he could see no one.

Suddenly he was grabbed from behind and he felt something sharp pierce into his throat.

"I'VE GOT 'IM! I'VE GOT THE BOY! SOMEONE ALERT OUR LORD!"

"NO YOU DON'T!" shouted Neville.

With all his might, he elbowed the Death Eater in the ribs and somehow managed to escape his grasp, although, in the process the knife the Death Eater had been holding to his throat sliced right through his tender skin. As soon as the Death Eater regathered his breath he made another grab for Neville, who punched him in the face. The Death Eater punched him back and Neville collapsed to the ground and the Death Eater hovered over him with a sick grin as he brought the knife up over his head with both hands.

"I THINK I'M GOING TO QUITE ENJOY THIS!"

Neville watched with horror as the knife quickly came down, stabbing him in the shoulder.

He screamed and used both legs to kick the Death Eater away from him and then he brought both shaking hands up to the knife and ripped it out of his shoulder.

The Death Eater punched Neville again and took the knife from him, and just as he was about ready to stab him again he suddenly collapsed on top of Neville- _dead_- his eyes wide and grey as the life immediately left his body. Neville clambered out from under his body and looked up to see Malfoy, wand still pointed as remnants of the curse he had used still billowed from his wand, like a muggle's smoking gun.

Draco Malfoy had just saved his life. And not only thay but he had _just killed someone_; and whether or not it had been the first time he had done so, Neville didn't think he wanted to know, all he knew was that he was very grateful.

Neville tried to get up, but the pain was too intense. He craned his neck so that he could look down at himself and all he could see was blood. His entire front was covered with blood. His vision was beginning to blur, he couldn't possibly be _dying_- _could he_?

Before he could come to any sort of realization on what his fate might be or if he had already reached his end, his last thoughts were how this was _only the beginning_.

And then, his vision went black.

000000000000

**Author's Note: **So what are all of your thoughts? Questions? Comments? Theories? Feedback? I hope to hear from you all and look forward to seeing what you all have to say! Next up, the battle continues in Chapter 34! And as it has only just begun, things are about to continue to get much, _much worse_. Thanks for reading and please, leave your reviews! :)


	35. Retaliation: Part One

**Chapter 34: Retaliation: Part One  
**

**Author's Note: ** I'm baaack! :))) And I plan to update at least monthly from now on until this story has reached it's climax- which is very, very soon. I have had a lot going on and apologize for the ridiculous (over a year! :o) delay. To be fair- I spent nine months of last year pregnant and gave birth to my first child three months ago! So I am a mommy now and couldn't be happier! Had some free time today and decided I needed to get my butt back into gear so I can finally close this up and write more stories! Thank you to everyone for your patience and kind words of encouragement. I hope you guys continue to stick with me until the end. One thing I can promise, is that I'm not done torturing poor Neville just yet! It only gets worse from here.

Also, please note I realize how much shorter this chapter appears compared to previous ones- which is because I have broken it down into two parts- so part deux should be up in a couple of weeks!

And on we go...

000000

Neville slowly opened his eyes.

Was he dreaming? Had he died and passed on to a new life?

His vision was clouded over with remnants of smoke, dust and slowly dissipated spells floating in the air, he sputtered and gasped for breath, like a fish out of water.

The battle had continued on without him, and having no sense of time he had no idea how long he had been unconscious but he knew he had to get up and continue fighting.

He figured those around him took him for dead, as no one had even thought to give him a second glance. He sat up but the searing pain of the open wounds on his flesh throbbed so terribly he could hardly stand it and he immediately fell back.

Tears quickly began to gather in his eyes and slid effortlessly down either cheek, he could taste the saltiness of them as they reached his lips.

Neville sucked in a deep breath and jumped up, throwing himself back into battle and was missed being hit by a jet of yellow light that whizzed _just_ inches above his head.

"STUPEFY!" he shouted at an unidentified Death Eater.

The amount of smoke and dust that filled the air was becoming so thick that it would have been nearly impossible to see your own hand in front of your face.

Neville continued to throw every single jinx, spell and curse he had ever learned. He suddenly stopped when he spotted Ginny dueling with a woman in the distance.

He became so overwhelmed with feelings of frustration and worry that the severity of the throbbing pain he felt numbed to almost nothing more than the sting of a simple paper cut; and suddenly, overcome with adrenaline he shoved his way through the blackened sea of Death Eaters and ran to her.

The woman dueling Ginny was tall and thin with long, white blonde hair that fell past her waist. The woman swiftly began circling her and Neville got a good look at her face. She was very pale with piercing gray-blue eyes and she was smirking nastily.

Neville knew immediately who she was, Narcissa Malfoy- wife to Lucius and mother to Draco.

Narcissa hit Ginny with a spell and she immediately fell unconscious.

"CALAMENTRA!" shouted Neville, pointing his wand directly at Narcissa. A stream of white light shot out from the tip of his wand and hit her directly in the face. She screamed and flew back, hitting a collapsed wall.

"YOU DARE HARM MY DEAR SISTER, LONGBOTTOM?"

Neville recognized the voice instantly and a chill ran down his spine as he turned around to face her wrath.

"YOU SHALL PAY FOR YOUR OFFENSE! CRUCIO!"

And before Neville could even properly react he was on the ground.

The pain of the familiar curse had taken hold of him in a deathly grip once again, ripping into him and digging beneath his skin. It was tearing him open and pulling him apart limb by limb.

Bellatrix laughed wickedly as she tortured him. It was a disturbing, high-pitched giggle that was almost child-like. Her laughter echoed in his ears.

"I CAN SEE YOU BREAKING, BOY!"

Neville had been trying so hard to hold back any indications of his suffering because he didn't want to give her that pleasure as he had the first time she tortured him back in the Department of Mysteries in his fifth year. He bit through his lip but it wasn't enough. Neville could feel himself dying. The pain had become so severe that he couldn't hold it in any longer. Neville let out a blood-curdling scream that seemed to shake the entire room.

"YES! ANY MOMENT NOW! I CAN SEE YOU BREAKING BOY! JUST LIKE MUMMY AND DADDY! BE SURE TO SEND THEM MY LOVE!"

Bellatrix shrieked with delight as Neville's limbs crashed wildly against the ground and his body bent into positions that the human body was not made to withstand.

The louder he screamed the louder she laughed.

"HAS WIDDLE BABY LONGBOTTOM HAD ENOUGH?"

Suddenly Neville was broken from the curse and Bellatrix was shot straight up into the air- a look of sheer shock overtook her malevolent features as she glanced down at the battle below her.

"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT AND ALL OF THE PAIN YOU HAVE CAUSED THIS FAMILY!"

Neville slowly lifted his head- which felt heavy as though it were made of lead- to see his father, wand aimed, suspending Bellatrix in mid-air.

"WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO SAY FOR YOURSELF? NOW THAT YOUR LORD ISN'T HERE TO PROTECT YOU?"

Bellatrix's mouth fell open and her eyes grew wide as she locked eyes on him.

"WHY YOU LOOK AS THOUGH YOU'VE SEEN A GHOST! THOUGHT YOU'D FINISHED US OFF FOR GOOD?" shouted Frank. "YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF US!"

"LET ME DOWN THIS INSTANT SO WE CAN FINISH THIS OFF PROPERLY!" she roared.

"AS YOU WISH!"

Frank dropped his hold and Bellatrix plummeted to the ground- at least fifteen feet and landed with a heavy thud.

"CRUCIO!"

Frank leapt out of the way just in time.

"THINK YOU CAN DO ME IN AGAIN? NOT THIS TIME!"

"MY, FRANK- HOW YOU'VE AGED! HOW WAS LIFE IN THE LOONEY BIN?"

"FIERENDO!"

Flames shot out from Bellatrix's wand and caught the bottom of Frank's robes, which he quickly stomped out.

"TOBENDAS!"

As his father and Bellatrix continued to duel Neville mustered up what little strength he had left and began to crawl to Ginny, who had not yet awoken.

He cradled her limp body to his chest.

"Gin," he whispered into her ear. "C'mon love- wake up. I need you."

Bellatrix had finally hit Frank with a stunning charm but before she could celebrate her small victory, out of nowhere Alice fired a curse in defense of her husband.

"WHY ALICE, WHAT A PLEASANT SURPRISE! STOP BY TO WATCH ME TAKE YOUR PRECIOUS HUSBAND FROM YOU AGAIN?"

"I'M NOT HERE FOR REVENGE YOU BITCH! I'M HERE TO PROTECT MY FAMILY!" shouted Alice.

"HOW SWEET," mocked Bellatrix with disgust. "SHOW ME WHAT YOU'VE GOT YOU DESPICABLE CUNT! YOU STUPID-"

"INTRUSIO!"

Frank quickly rejoined his wife in battling Bellatrix.

Neville shook Ginny gently and slowly she began to move, her brown eyes opened and locked on his.

"NEVILLE- GINNY! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"

Ron knelt down beside them, a lot worse off than Neville had saw him earlier- fresh blood and burn marks covered half of his face.

"GIN- GO WITH RON! I'VE GOT TO HELP MY FAMILY! I'LL FIND YOU I PROMISE!"

Neville quickly kissed her hand and ran to his family- wand aimed and ready.

"GOROPUS LIGAMUS!"

The curse hit and Bellatrix's right arm was grotesquely twisted right out of it's socket- the sound of the ligaments tearing rang sickeningly in their ears.

"THAT'S MY BOY!" shouted Frank with pride.

Bellatrix howled with pain but managed to grimace evilly through her suffering.

"CRUCIO!"

Once again Neville fell to the ground, overpowered by her forceful nature but before Frank or Alice could intervene another opponent stepped forward.

"BACK AWAY FROM MY GRANDSON THIS INSTANT!"

Suddenly Bellatrix dropped her wand and turned towards the voice.

"OH! HOW WONDERFUL! ANOTHER LONGBOTTOM TO FINISH OFF!"

Augusta strode forward, wand pointed readily and her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"STEP AWAY FROM MY GRANDSON THIS INSTANT OR I WILL KILL YOU!"

"THAT A THREAT, YOU OLD HAG?"

"MUM- STAY AWAY FROM HER!" shouted Frank. "LET ALICE AND I HANDLE THIS!"

Augusta shot her son an icy glare that immediately silenced him and turned her attention back to Bellatrix.

"TO KILL YOU IS A PROMISE! YOU WILL NEVER HARM ANOTHER MEMBER OF MY FAMILY EVER AGAIN!"

Bellatrix's mouth curled into a truly sickening grin.

She knelt down next to Neville who was barely conscious and pointed her wand directly above his heart, while still facing Augusta.

"_Crucio_…" she hissed in a venomous whisper.

Something inside of Augusta snapped. The sight of her grandson writhing helplessly on the ground, screaming at the top of his lungs was all it took.

And so the epic duel between Bellatrix LeStrange and Augusta Longbottom began.

"TORPEO!"

"BLASPHMORO!"

The two skilled witches put all of their might into each curse fired and bellowed with a hellish force of spite and vengeance. Surprisingly, for her age, Augusta moved swiftly and defensively, counteracting almost every attack summoned onto her.

Bellatrix and Augusta were locked in a heated battle- each holding out until the other fell dead, with Frank and Alice watching guardedly at their son's side, ready to intervene at any moment's notice; although deep down both knew that this was Augusta's own private battle.

"HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING, YOU MINDLESS OLD BITCH? YOU CAN NOT WIN! YOU HAVEN'T THE POWER NOR THE INTENT TO FINISH ME OFF!"

Augusta fired off another curse, which missed.

"YOU'RE PATHETIC! THE WHOLE LOT OF YOU DISGUSTING LONGBOTTOMS! ALL A BUNCH OF MUDBLOOD LOVING COWARDS!"

"STUPEFY!"

"YOU KNOW, AUGUSTA...WHAT I REGRET MORE THAN ANYTHING IS NOT KILLING YOUR GRANDSON WHEN I FIRST HAD THE CHANCE! SEEING THE LIFE SLOWLY FADE FROM HIS EYES WAS AS BLISSFUL AS THE NIGHT WE GAVE FRANK AND THAT STUPID CUNT WHORE HE CALLS A WIFE WHAT THEY HAD COMING TO THEM! AND NOW, I GET TO DO THE SAME TO YOU WHILE YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY WATCHES!"

A spark of fire and hatred so terrifying it would make any good blooded wizard surrender his wand suddenly reflected in Augusta's eyes as she thrust her wand toward Bellatrix with her final curse.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The entire room was engulfed with a blast of green light which momentarily haulted the battle, and when the smoke cleared Bellatrix lay dead, her black eyes wide open and etched forever on her face was the last twisted sneer she would ever make.

Neville slowly felt his jaw close as he nodded timidly. His gran had just murdered Bellatrix LeStrange and that hadn't seemed to ruffle a single feather on her back.

His mother squeezed his hand and kissed his forehead. Frank stood up and went to his mother, who embraced him so tightly it looked as though she'd never let go.

"Are you alright?"

The sweet smell of Ginny's scent overtook his nostrils as she knelt down to examine him. He looked up at her and took a deep breath and felt comfort in the squeeze Ginny gave his free hand, he squeezed back and she pulled him upright. With one last longing glance into each other's eyes- neither knowing what to say, they were thrust back into the ongoing battle.

000000

"Severus...how nice of you to rejoin us. What news do you bring to us?"

"My lord...it is my unfortunate yet willing duty to inform you that Bellatrix LeStrange is dead, at the hand of Augusta Longbottom."

The sky was black and the air was still and heavy with dread, not even a slight breeze to signify any sign of life. Voldemort, Severus and around three hundred more Death Eaters emerged from the Forbidden Forest, ready and bound for a much awaited attack on Hogwarts.

All was silent, they watched the chaos erupt from afar, Hogwarts was no longer safe- smoke rose from the top of the castle as fire could be seen billowing through the windows, a few older students were fighting desperately to put it out while others ran, screaming- searching for places to hide.

Not a single trace of emotion crossed the dark lord's face. He simply looked on with a terrifying sneer, his jagged yellow teeth visible as his blood red eyes widened from their usual slits.

"I am saddened by this news," he replied, sounding not even remotely close to it. "Bellatrix was one of my most loyal followers...her demise brings me great displeasure. Her devotion to me could not be matched...other than by you, Severus."

Snape nodded.

"Her sick, overwhelming suit to follow and abide to my every wish was like that of one of those disgusting muggle creatures...what are they called?"

Voldemort awaited an answer as he slid his nasty, white fingers down Nagini's scaly body.

"I believe you are thinking of dogs, my lord."

"Yes, very good. Yes."

"Tonight will be the night to end the reign of Harry Potter! I will rise again and rule with utmost power. Soon enough, that key will be in _my_ hands."

"And Althalos?" began Snape, eyebrow raised.

"What speaks of him?"

"Where has he gone and why has he not joined us?"

"Althalos has advised me of other plans he must partake in- he will arrive shortly."

Snape's lips drew tight.

He knew _exactly_ what Althalos had gone to do- which explained Jessica's absence as well. As of right now, he held the fate of everyone's future in his hands and Voldemort had no clue he was being deceived by one of his own eager predecessors. And once he discovered this, many would have to pay the price.

And so Voldemort led his army onward, toward the open gates of Hogwarts.

000000

"HELP! HELP ME, PLEASE!"

Neville turned from the battle and followed the sound of the desperate cries which lead him to the empty Gryffindor corridor and saw Padma Patil struggling under the weight of Fenrir Greyback, who had his claws dug deep into her sides as he viciously mauled her.

Neville began to run over but stopped halfway and gasped when he saw the bloody, mutilated body of Michael Corner beside her. Neville watched, frozen in horror as Fenrir bit down into Padma's neck, ripping into her soft flesh with ease. Blood began to gush from the wound as she screamed.

"PUNCTURIO!"

Suddenly the wretched werewolf howled in pain as a huge slash appeared across his back, he stopped and turned to Neville, who had his wand ready and aimed to attack again before the werewolf could act first.

"PUNCTURIO!" He bellowed again with even more ferocity.

Another enormous gash inflicted itself upon the werewolf's boisterous chest.

"LIKE TO RIP INNOCENT PEOPLE TO SHREDS? LET'S SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT!"

The werewolf bared his sharp fangs and leaped across the room right onto Neville, knocking him to the ground- but before he could bite down into his neck, a thin spear immediately protruded through his chest, just missing Neville by mere inches.

Fenrir fell back wounded, and Neville looked up to see Ron pull it out of him.

"You okay, mate! Did he bite you?"

Neville shook his head and ran to Padma, Ron followed.

Her eyes were wide with fear and her body was a bloodied, mangled mess. Neville ripped off his sweater and applied pressure to her neck, which was still gushing blood.

"GO FIND REMUS!" shouted Neville.

Instead, Ron stood immobile, staring down at her in horror.

"Is he dead?" he asked quietly, suddenly turning to Michael Corner, who lay lifeless next to her.

Padma reached up and grabbed onto Neville's shirt and pulled him down close to her. Tears began to spill out of her eyes as she struggled to speak.

"RON- GO NOW!"

Ron hesitated for a moment and finally took off running.

Neville crawled over to Micheal Corner's body and placed his hand on his neck- he had no pulse, he was gone- maybe there would still be time to save Padma. Neville closed his eyelids and moved back over to her.

"It's going to be alright, Ron's getting help."

He leaned down close to her face and began trying to comfort her, he began stroking her bloody, tangled hair with his free hand.

"You're going to be fine. Just hang in there."

But he wasn't so sure. She was growing paler by the second and began to cough up blood.

"Neville..." she sputtered. "I-I don't want to die...I-I'm so scared...where's Parvati? I need to see her..."

Neville could feel the tears coming on but he had to be strong for her, he couldn't break down in front of her- his job was to make sure she felt safe and know that she wasn't alone.

He squeezed her hand tight.

"You're not going to die," he whispered. "I won't let you die..."

Her eyelids began to grow heavy and he could see her fading.

"PADMA!" he shouted. "DON'T GO TO SLEEP. PADMA, STAY WITH ME! RON'S GETTING HELP- YOU'RE GOING TO BE FINE!"

Suddenly her eyelids fluttered open and she looked up at him.

"Tell Parvati that I love her..."

And that was it, she took her last breath and was gone.

Neville couldn't hold it in any longer, he broke down into loud, breathless sobs. He couldn't save her, he told her he wouldn't let her die and she did.

He gave her one last glance and finally let go of her hand, he had to keep fighting- he couldn't stay and cry over her dead body any longer. He had to keep fighting and vowed not to let anyone else die under his watch. But yet his mind was still wracked with thoughts on how he could have saved her. If only he'd made it to her sooner? If only he'd killed Fenrir when he first had the chance...and Michael Corner, while he had never fancied the bloke, he couldn't help but feel guilty of ever being jealous of him. Had he died trying to protect Padma?

And he had dated Ginny; even after they had broken up they had remained close friends. Ginny would be devastated to learn of his death. He finally stood up and looked around only to notice that Michael and Padma hadn't been the only casualties. He saw more lifeless bodies strewn throughout the corridor, lying in pools of blood, having been ripped to shreds.

He was terrified to get any closer, to see another body of someone he knew and that's when his eyes were drawn to a body right near the common room entrance. Neville's heart dropped as he examined the body closer.

Seamus Finnegan.

Neville slowly walked over to the wounded werewolf, who lay whimpering and bleeding from his wounds. He pointed his wand and without a second thought.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The familiar green glow that had taken Bellatrix LeStrange earlier engulfed the corridor as Fenrir now lay lifeless, never to kill again.

000000

**Author's Note: **Never fear- this story will NOT remain unfinished- it means too much to me! I've had so much going on in the past year- including the birth of my first child this past October! One of my New Year's resolutions is to keep up with my writing, and so here is my contribution! Thank you again to everyone who has read and followed me with this and again, much apologies for the delay! I will try to get into a regular routine with updating until this story has reached it's conclusion!

Please read and review!

Next up: the battle continues...and it only gets worse from here!


	36. Retaliation: Part Two

**Chapter 35: Retaliation: Part Two**

Neville wiped away his tears and stood for a moment to collect himself. He couldn't allow to be vulnerable- not now. He could break down later, he had to be strong so he could help end this madness once and for all.

He ran back to the great hall, which was now empty- aside from the bodies of those who hadn't survived. He estimated at least thirty- among them he had recognized a couple of first years- _children_;

innocent children who would have had their whole lives ahead of them. It seemed as though it were just yesterday he was observing their small faces, some curious and some terrified during the sorting ceremony. He could feel the tears coming on again, he quickly turned away and followed the sounds of battle which led him to the ravenclaw corridor.

He spotted Hermione firing off spells- and Ron, right by her side, fighting off any death eater that came too close with the same spear he had used to stab Fenrir with.

"Ron, where's your wand?"

"Lost it! I've been using this...so far it's been working just fine- as I demonstrated earlier!"

"HADECINDIO!" bellowed Neville.

All of the death eaters in the room fell to the ground and began writhing and squirming- their screams indicating as though they were on fire.

Hermione threw herself against Neville, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

"Neville I'm so glad you're alright! I haven't seen you in ages! I was so worried..."

"Seamus is dead..." he choked, "Padma and Michael Corner too..."

Hermione's face fell.

"_Oh no_..."

Ron's face fell as well.

"One by one, no matter how long it takes- these bastards are going to hell, right where they belong..." began Ron, "and I'll be glad to help send them there!"

"Where's Ginny?" asked Neville, his hoarse voice rising with worry.

"Don't worry mate, she's safe."

Neville's heart raced, pounding furiously against his ribcage. He wasn't sure he could believe it unless he actually saw her.

"_He's here_..." began Neville, "_I can sense it. He's here_."

"Who?" asked Ron.

"Voldemort," answered Neville. "We need to find Harry. _Now_."

The three of them ran, taking down death eaters as they went but out of the corner of his eye Neville saw movement coming from another room.

"You two go on! I'll catch up- once you find Harry, you all need to hide."

Before Hermione could protest against the idea of them splitting up, Neville ran in the opposite direction to investigate and the scene he came upon was a disturbing one at that.

Draco Malfoy was being mercilessly tortured as his fellow death eaters glared down at him with disgust, their cruel laughter at his expense made Neville's blood boil. No matter how much of a git Malfoy was, he hadn't deserved this sort of treatment.

"We've got direct orders from our lord to murder ye'..."

"Yeah," added a second death eater, "doesn't seem to find you worthy of fighting for him...'bout as worthless as a mudblood he said..."

Malfoy's blonde hair was completely red with blood, one eye was swollen shut and his lip was busted right down the middle, but still he managed to sneer.

"So what's stopping you?" he challenged, as he spat blood out of his mouth. "Do it!"

"PERCUTIO!"

The death eaters immediately collapsed, their bodies convulsing sporadically as a series of shocks ran through the course of their bodies.

"Well if it isn't Longbottom here to save the day..."

Neville kneeled down and offered his hand.

"C'mon, get up."

Malfoy glared icily at his hand with his good eye.

"You should have let me die..."

Neville shook his head.

"I've already let enough people die...now c'mon."

"_Are you deaf_..." began Malfoy slowly, drawing out each word as harshly as he could muster. "I said you should have let me die," he finished, his voice rising steadily.

"This isn't the time to be difficult," argued Neville. "Look you can go back to hating me once this is all over but for now just let me help you."

Suddenly Malfoy reached up and violently grabbed the back of Neville's neck, bringing his face down to his, he had such a tight hold Neville could feel his hair tugging away from his scalp.

"You don't seem to be hearing me clearly," began Malfoy through clenched teeth. "I. Don't. Wan't. Your. Fucking. Help! _Get out of here. NOW!_"

"Why? Why don't you want my help?"

Malfoy released his grip and laughed bitterly.

Neville began rubbing his throbbing scalp as he awaited an answer.

"I have nothing to live for."

Neville didn't speak. He hadn't known Malfoy well enough beyond how he acted to offer him a reason to live- or at least a reason that were good enough for him.

"I've shamed my family, my lord...and for that alone everyone wants me dead."

"You're not like them..." argued Neville. "You don't have to be one of them- you can fight for us-"

Malfoy smirked.

"It's not that simple...I wouldn't expect you to understand."

"Try me."

Malfoy raised an eyebrow.

"Don't get the wrong idea, Longbottom...it's not like we're friends or anything. I still can't stand the sight of you or Potter or the Weasels."

"Wouldn't expect you to," replied Neville.

"My entire life...I've had to deal with other people making my choices for me. What to wear, how to speak, who to be..." Malfoy trailed off.

"Now that is something I can understand..." replied Neville, he knew the feeling all too well.

Who would have ever thought that Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom could have had even a single thing in common?

"Every aspect of my life has been controlled in some manner- by someone other than myself- my father, my mother...the dark lord...and I simply accepted it. I accepted it as my fate, to follow in my father's footsteps as a dedicated follower to him. I was created not to be loved, but rather to cater to _him_...to be molded into this...this fucking perception of what a true Malfoy should be..."

Neville remained silent as he listened to the other boy vent. Suddenly all of these years of hatred he had held toward him melted away as he began to realize that under all the exterior Malfoy had been an innocent pawn in a dark and deadly game- he had been born into this- taught from as young an age as one can understand- the concept to hate and to harm others in any imaginable way. He had had no choice. He had had no control.

Malfoy raised an eyebrow as he observed the other boy to see if he still had any interest in listening to him speak.

"With the little time I have left...things are going to happen on _my_ terms...and I can't wait to see the look on dear old daddy's face as he watches his only son piss away his precious blue print that has been mapped out, paving the way for me to be just like him..."

He paused.

"This will be my redemption..."

"So prove it, come with me..." urged Neville.

"I am meant to die in this battle," replied Malfoy all knowingly.

"Not anymore- now that you've switched sides. The order will protect you- I will protect you."

Malfoy's good eye sparked with fire.

"I'm going down in a blaze like you've _never _seen...and I'm bringing that bastard with me..."

000000

"Oh daddy- just think of the possibilities!" squealed Jessica. "We'll be unstoppable..."

"Not just yet..." croaked Althalos from under his dark hood. "Not until the potter boy is dead..."

"That's easy enough," she replied darkly. "It's how we are going to take down our lord that will be a bit more of a challenge."

"The fool honestly thought he would live to see the day he would come into power again..." murmured Althalos.

Jessica howled with laughter.

"Hand over the book."

Suddenly, Jessica's face fell and her laughter ceased.

"Which one?"

"Stupid girl- _Libro Timor_..."

"Libro Timor..." she repeated. "_Oh no_..."

"Do not tell me you have misplaced it...for as you know this key is useless to me unless I have that book."

"Daddy I-"

"Silence! You have failed me many ways since birth...but never in such an idiotic and disgraceful way..."

"Please- daddy let me-"

"For this you must be punished."

"I'll find it! I know right where it's at!"

"That doesn't do me much good now does it child?"

"I'm so sorry, daddy..." Jessica slowly pulled out her wand and hovered it above her wrist. "There is no need for you to punish me for this offense...puncturio!"

A large gash appeared on her arm.

"_Again_," replied Althalos.

"Puncturio!"

Another gash.

"_Again_."

"PUNCTURIO!"

Jessica winced as blood poured out of the gaping slashes she had inflicted upon herself.

"Is that good, daddy?"

"_Once more_."

"PUNCTURIO!"

"Surely you have learned your lesson now?"

She nodded furiously as she blinked rapidly through the pain- she knew not to let a single tear escape- it was a sign of weakness and she was already weak in his eyes.

"I'll have you know, the only thing that saved you from death was your knowledge on where the book is located. Consider this your final warning- there will be no next time...do you understand?"

"Yes daddy."

"Good. Now go get it and bring it to me...along with your long lost nephew."

000000

"How many death eaters d'you reckon Voldemort has summoned?" hissed Neville.

He and Malfoy were crouched behind the remains of what used to be the east side corridor fireplace, it had now been reduced to a crumbled mass of rubble and brick.

"Five hundred. _Easy_," replied Malfoy. " Maybe even more."'

"Fuck..."

"Don't have a heart attack, Longbottom. It doesn't matter how big his army is; all we need to do is kill him and they'll all scatter like cockroaches."

Neville turned to the blonde, his brown eyes locked on his steel gray ones. A look of determination set on his face.

"Is there anything you know that'll help me? _Anything_?"

Malfoy pursed his thin lips and his eyes began wondering, as though he were having second thoughts about helping him.

"The book of fears..." he began finally, "have you heard of it? Because you're going to need to destroy it."

Neville shook his head.

"You're kidding right? It goes right along with that stupid key you handed over..."

Neville thought long and hard.

"What does that have to do with the key?"

"The _book of fears_...or more suitably titled _Libro Timor_, holds all of the darkest spells and every sinister thought and fear ever conjured up since the beginning of time...if Voldemort gets ahold of that book to unlock it we are all royally fucked. It will release unimaginable evils...my father used to quote excerpts from it to me when I was a child...talk about some tragically fucked up bedtime stories..."

Neville wracked his mind and suddenly he remembered. The black leather bound book that Hermione had found in the restricted section of the library, the one with the strap that couldn't be opened.

"Yes! I know right where it is!"

"Alright, go get it. I'll be around."

And with that Neville ran all the way to the gryffindor common room up to his dorm, and right there under his bed where he had left it, was the book. He cradled it against his chest and tried to think of what he should do with it. He knew he had to destroy it but he couldn't let anyone see it.

He quickly grabbed his knapsack, emptied out all of it's contents and shoved the book inside and swung it around his shoulders. He took off running and the battle waged on.

"VERBERO!"

Before Neville could fire off anymore spells he was met with a shattering blow to the head. He could feel blood beginning to pour down his face, he turned around to see a young death eater armed with a brick. Just as he was about to strike Neville again, he dropped dead from the killing curse.

Neville fell to his knees, his vision was blurring.

"Neville! C'mon, stay with me..."

It was Harry.

"Harry...I sent Ron and Hermione to find you...he's here, Voldemort..."

"_I know_," replied Harry grimly. "Wow, looks like he got you pretty good."

Harry cast a healing spell and pulled him up.

"_I've got the book_..." whispered Neville, as he winced and slowly raised his hand up to the wound- utterly terrified of what he would feel. While it was no longer bleeding, he could feel to where it had split open. He was suddenly overcome with nausea and the pain escalated so badly he thought he'd pass out.

"What book?" replied Harry, his brows burrowed with confusion.

"The book of fears..."

"I don't understand..."

"It can only be opened with the key...which Althalos has. If he or Voldemort gets ahold of this book it's all over."

"They won't," assured Harry.

"I hope not..."

"So what's the plan?" asked Harry.

Neville scoffed.

"There is _no plan_..."

"That's scary. Think we have enough luck to get us by?"

Tears began spilling out of Neville's eyes as he grimaced at the other boy.

"I'd love to think so...better after all of the fucking hell we've been though!"

"Listen Neville...I just want to tell you-" Harry paused. "I just want you to know that I really admire you and am astonished with how much stronger of a person you've become since I first met you. You're a good wizard to have by my side...and no matter what happens...I just want to thank you, for all the fight you've put in and for always having my back and standing by me. You're a true friend and one amazing bloke. I don't know what I would have done without you, or Ron or Hermione..."

Neville smiled at the raven haired boy.

"Gee Harry...that's so kind of you to say...thank you. And same to you. I-I've never really had many friends...but it feels good. We're in this together and we're going to take them all down."

Harry stuck out his hand for Neville to shake but instead Neville pulled the other boy into a tight hug.

"I'm ready for him..." declared Harry, "this ends tonight."

"Good luck, Harry."

000000

"TORPEO!"

Nelie high-fived her younger brother as the two of them had taken down the last of a dozen death eaters alone. Nelie grabbed Maitland by his sleeve and pulled him along.

"Think Neville's alright?" she asked. "I haven't seen him in quite awhile."

"I saw him earlier...bout got himself killed."

Nelie's face fell.

"How bout dad?"

"This is all mediocre training to him..." he began. "I'm sure he's kicking ass and taking names."

"He is a force to be reckoned with that's for sure," she agreed.

"All us Longbottoms are," started Maitland. "Don't you recall that the mean old witch who happens to be our grandmother killed Bellatrix Lestrange?"

Nelie snorted.

"It's gone awfully quiet...don't you think?" asked Maitland.

Nelie's nose crinkled as she stopped to ponder.

"Yes...it has..."

The entire castle was indeed eerily quiet.

"_This can't be good_..." mumbled Maitland.

"Oh thank god you guys are alright!"

It was Neville. He ran to his cousins and hugged them tightly.

"We were just talking about you!" replied Nelie. "We're so glad you're alright."

"I just got done talking to Harry," began Neville softly. "He's ready to face Voldemort..."

The three young Longbottoms stood for moments without speaking.

"_Are you ready_?" asked Nelie.

Neville thought for a moment before answering.

"You fucking bet I am!"

"That's the spirit, mate! And we'll be right behind you!" Maitland exclaimed.

"C'mon," replied Neville, waving for his cousins to follow him.

They slowly made their rounds and discovered that the castle for the most part- other than the dead or unconscious strewn about- had been abandoned.

"_Oh no_," gasped Nelie softly.

Neville slowly walked over to join her at the window that overlooked the astronomy tower and saw that the showdown was about to begin. Voldemort and his army of death eaters created a black wall that stretched for miles while on the opposite side stood the Weasley's, Hermione, Remus, Sirius and other various students and survivors with a much smaller wall, where Harry was tightly inclosed.

Dumbledore and professor Snape were nowhere in sight- nor was his gran or Francis.

"Well, well well...if it isn't my two lovely children and dearest nephew..."

All three Longbottoms turned around to see Jessica Bloodworth standing before them, wand aimed.

Neville's blood ran cold.

"Now be a good boy and hand over the book...and no one will get hurt..."

Nelie moved in front of her younger brother and Neville, pushing them back.

"_Over. My. Dead. Body_."

"As you wish! AVADA-"

"NO!" shouted Neville. "NO STOP!"

Before she could complete the curse that would have killed her own daughter, Jessica brought down her wand and smirked evilly.

"You can make this easy, boy...no one has to get hurt...just hand it over..."

"Don't do it, Neville..." threatened Maitland.

"This can all end...right now. You can end this...just hand over the book and this'll all be over...I'll leave here completely unnoticed and our dark lord will follow."

"Like I'm supposed to believe that!" shouted Neville.

"STUPID BOY! HAND OVER THE FUCKING BOOK!"

"NO!"

"INTERFECTIO!" - "DORMIO!"

Neville and Jessica both fired off curses at the exact same moment.

Neville easily dodged out of the way and fired again.

"RANCIDIUS!"

"PERCUTIO!"

The three Longbottom cousins were barely holding up against the experienced witch and were all running out of steam.

"GIVE IT UP STUPID LITTLE BOY! YOUR EFFORTS AGAINST ME ARE WORTHLESS! YOU. WILL. LOSE!"

"NO WE WON'T! INTERMORIOR!"

"DAD!" exclaimed Nelie as Francis jumped in, firing a curse off at his estranged wife, which missed.

"How lovely, a family reunion! Wish daddy could be here!"

"ADSTRANGULO!"

"I never liked your dad!"

"OBSIDEO!"

"Quite a shame...he took quite a liking to you, Francis...he saw potential in you..."

"CRUCIO!"

Francis was caught off guard and lost his balance. He fell back but before Jessica could use this moment to attack, Maitland fired a spell in defense of his father that grazed the side of her cheek.

She redirected her attention to him, and with a wide, toothy grin pointed her wand.

"OBCAECO!"

A stream of gray light emitted from her wand, hitting Maitland right in the face- and the entire room went white.

Neville's vision was immediately lost.

He blindly aimed his wand and began firing.

He'd gone blind, he couldn't believe it. Now what was he going to do?

But it had only lasted a moment.

"I can't...see," stammered Maitland. "I can't see!"

"JESSICA WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? YOU COLD, HEARTLESS BITCH! THAT'S OUR SON!"

Nelie grabbed her brother and pulled him down before anymore damage could be done.

"All is fair..._in love and war_," Jessica snickered.

"IMPERIO!"

Neville's jaw dropped.

"Gran!"

"_Sit_," she commanded.

Jessica, her face void of emotion, followed the command.

"No one is going to harm my family and get away with it!"

Francis quickly ran to his children.

"Dad..." began Nelie softly. "_Is this permanent_?" she whispered, so only he could hear.

Francis nodded darkly as tears began to spill out of his eyes and once she saw her dad begin to cry she broke down as well.

"I'm _blind_...I'm blind...dad, there's got to be a way to reverse this...right?"

"I'm sure there's a way...we'll find a way son," lied Francis, as he held on to the boy, doing his best to comfort him.

Maitland's once dark brown eyes were now cloudy- a milky white, his irises barely visible.

Neville stood back awkwardly watching the scene unfold, able to offer no words.

"What are we going to do about her?" questioned Augusta, nodding to Jessica.

Francis turned to look at his estranged wife, who was still seated on the floor, awaiting whatever Augusta had in store for her. She was completely under her power.

"She stays with us..."

Augusta stood and watched her two estranged grandchildren with weary eyes.

"If only I'd gotten here sooner," she replied, a faint trace of regret in her voice.

"It's not your fault mum...I was here too and I couldn't stop her," choked Francis.

She slowly walked to the other side of the room.

"Ever since your father married that deranged woman...I've shown nothing but hate and discontent toward all of you."

"No," began Nelie, "worse...we simply didn't exist. _We were dead to you_."

Silence.

"We've got a mother who never loved us...and a grandmother who chose to ignore us...and we've turned out just fine. Right dad?"

Francis forced a nervous smile.

"I hope some day we can move past this," began Augusta, reverting back to her normal self. "And be a family once again."

"Me too," replied Nelie.

"I've got the book of fears," blurted Neville. "That's why Jessica came here...to get it and take it back to Althalos."

"Cornelia...take your brother somewhere safe. I'll come to you shortly."

Nelie nodded and guided Maitland out of the room.

Francis sighed heavily and buried his head in his hands.

"Francis...we can use Jessica to get the key back," began Neville.

"No...if he discovers she not only failed in bringing him the book and is also under the imperius curse he'll kill her. And death is much too easy for her. I want her to suffer...and rot in Azkaban for the rest of her life. She kidnapped our daughter, blinded our son...and _she will pay for what she's done_."

"I need to go to him then," began Neville hurriedly. "I can end this before it escalates further."

"Mum, stay here with Jessica...I need to rejoin the others."

Neville followed Francis out of the room.

"Where's Snape? And Dumbledore?"

"I honestly haven't a clue."

"Are my mum and dad alright?"

"Yes."

Neville refrained from asking any more questions and Francis chose not to fill the silence with small talk.

"You can't go out there as yourself...you'll be killed in an instant. In fact, it's dangerous enough that Harry is already out there."

He handed Neville a vial of polyjuice potion and plucked a few strands of hair out of his own head.

Neville added his uncle's hair to the potion and watched as it sizzled and began to bubble mildly, he knocked it back in one swift gulp.

He felt his insides begin to churn and slither as it began to take effect. The burning sensation hadn't been near as strong this time as it had the last time he impersonated Francis, for which he was thankful.

"I'm going to find Cornelia and Maitland before I proceed any further. Be careful."

Neville nodded and slowly made his way through the crowd.

"SHOW YOURSELF- HARRY POTTER! NO ONE CAN PROTECT YOU NOW!"

Neville spotted the trio- inseparable as always, along with Ginny; all were embracing Harry, trying to hold him back. Hermione had her arms wrapped around him and she was crying. Ron had one arm around her waist and the other around Harry's shoulders. Ginny immediately locked eyes with Neville, her eyes red and wet with tears.

Neville felt his lip begin to quiver.

He made his way to her.

"_It's me,_" he whispered, not wanting the others to know.

"I love you," she mouthed.

Neville smiled and squeezed her hand.

"HARRY POTTER!" bellowed Voldemort. "REVEAL YOURSELF!"

Harry's bright green eyes seemed to have lost some of their light as he silently eyed his friends. The past seven years of his life had been leading up to this very moment. He had gone from the boy in the cupboard living with the wretched and ignorant Dursley's to the boy who lived- the son of a very powerful wizard and witch who happened to be one of the last and only hopes left in defeating Voldemort once and for all.

Harry released himself from Ron and Hermione's grip and began to make his way through the crowd and Neville made sure to follow close behind.

"Well Harry Potter...this has been a long time coming," began Voldemort darkly, as Harry emerged from the crowd. "Now, just to make sure we won't be having any interruptions-"

He flicked his wand, creating a solid barrier around those who had been protecting him, so they could do no more. They could be seen and heard but they could not pass through.

"He's not alone! You'll have to go through me as well!"

Suddenly Voldemort's red eyes settled onto Neville and his wicked grin grew even wider.

"Well if it isn't Francis Longbottom...I have heard quite a bit about you...along with that nephew of yours...where are you hiding him?"

Neville wanted to stand before him without fear and with utmost confidence but he found himself shaking considerably. He took a couple of deep breaths and tried to calm his nerves, after all, the last thing he wanted was for him to take notice of his fear.

"I believe that your nephew has something of mine," continued Voldemort. "Something very detrimental to my needs..."

"Yeah..." began Neville as calmly as he could muster. "And you'll have pry it out of my _cold. dead. fingers..._"

He felt his body temperature immediately drop and the color drain from his face as he realized what he had just said. He had basically just given his own death sentence.

"My lord...I am sorry to have arrived so late."

Everyone turned as Althalos Bloodworth appeared out of thin air- his dark hood immediately swept over Neville.

"Althalos...how pleasant of you to join us..." began Voldemort.

Althalos must have realized something was amiss when Jessica did not return to him as he had commanded. Neville's heart began to pound. Althalos had the key...and he had the book. If he could just somehow get the key from him he'd be that much closer to victory.

"I have not come in support of you, my lord..."

At this Voldemort's eye's went black with fury as his head whipped toward his former ally.

"Then why is it you have come at all?"

Althalos completely ignored Voldemort, his voice directed at Neville.

"Where is my daughter? I sent her to retrieve something for me."

"Well, I hate to break it to you..." began Neville, "but you won't be receiving either."

At this Voldemort's normally slit eyes grew wide and he turned to Althalos.

"You've come for the book...you never had any intentions of serving me. Did you?"

Silence.

Althalos' blood chilling laughter emitted darkly from under his hood and steadily grew louder as he raised his arms up to remove his hood- which was met with heavy gasps and shrieks of terror.

Neville felt his jaw drop and quickly closed it as he reminded himself that he had taken on the appearance of Francis, Althalos' estranged son-in-law.

For anyone who thought Voldemort was terrifying- Althalos' appearance was a million times worse.

His complexion lacked the rosy, bright color of one who was healthy and alive- and instead was wrinkled, bruised, dry and gray. It was drawn so tightly across his skull that you could detail every bone and break; his nose had slowly withered away with decay and his lips were practically non-existent- leaving his rotting teeth exposed in a terrifying grimace. He had had no eyelids, so his yellow eyes either rolled around or stared right through you.

Althalos finally turned to acknowledge Voldemort.

"I have come to claim what is rightfully mine. It is _I _who created _you_. So everything that you naively believe belongs to you is mine. I have come to reclaim my kingdom."

The calmness of his voice did not match his appalling appearance, which made his presence so much more terrifying and evil.

"Death eaters! Rejoice! From this moment on you shall all cease to know **he who shall not be named**..._I am your new lord_."

000000

Author's Note: So sorry to leave you guys with yet another cliffhanger when we are so close to the inevitable end! But I had to...next chapter we will see the battle finally reach it's conclusion, although for Neville it will be far from over.

Please make sure to leave me a review!

Next Chapter may be up later this month if I get some more free time to write!

Thanks for reading!


	37. Redemption

**Chapter 36: Redemption**

Silence. _Dead silence._

The kind that sent a chill through one's body and made the hairs on the back of one's neck prickle.

Voldemort's red eyes burned through the other dark wizard hatefully.

The ground seemingly rumbled as Althalos' deep, sinister laughter broke through the silence.

"_I should have known_..." Voldemort began quietly, his tone full of spite.

"Every skill you have acquired- and all of the power and knowledge that you have is because of me..."

Althalos paused and turned to address the death eaters.

"Are these fundamentals under which you should name and hail your lord?" He turned back to Voldemort, his yellow eyes piercing through him. "_Borrowed skills _for which he had none of his own- and recognition upon power that was not rightfully his. If you put a face on your so called lord- it would be _mine_; the only thing he has done is take the credit for all of my doing."

Neville snuck a glance at Harry who was not more than five feet away from him. He could tell the other boy was devising something in his mind while the two malevolent wizards were confronting one another.

It was Voldemort's turn to laugh and he sneered at the other wizard.

"_You pathetic fool_," he muttered. "You are nothing more than a pile of bones- a failed conceptionalist of the dark arts," he paused and turned to address his death eaters. "Lucky for you all I dutifully stepped in and took action for this imbecile and his misguided and outdated ways."

"I created all of you," began Althalos, as he waved his hand across the line of death eaters. "And I created _you_," he continued, staring hard at Voldemort. "Once upon a time...you were barely a certifiable wizard by the name of Thomas Marvolo Riddle...there was nothing special or fearful about you. You were just like the others...just like any other poor, hapless little wizard who had lost his way..."

Neville's skin began to tingle and bubble and suddenly his heart began to race. The polyjuice potion must have been wearing off.

He took another glance toward Harry only to notice he was gone.

"_This_," taunted Althalos as he reached into his robes and pulled out the key, "is going to be quite useful in bringing back my name. It is I who so shall rightfully rule these people."

Voldemort suddenly drew his wand but Althalos- as though reading his mind, had already fired with his own. Bright flashes of light erupted over the grounds as people began to scream and scatter out of fear.

"OCCIDIO!"

"ERADICO!"

The sound of glass shattering shook the grounds as the barrier Voldemort put up had suddenly vanished and death eaters, students, staff and bystanders all engaged in open fire.

Neville silently thanked his lucky stars at the timing as no one would notice the transition of his identity returning to normal through all of the chaos. Suddenly his mind returned to Harry. Where was he? He knew he had to find him.

Neville watched in shock as he witnessed _himself_ run right past through the crowd.

He quickly followed the imposter who made his way straight to the dark wizards who were still locked in their heated duel.

"I will give up the book in exchange for a bargain!"

Neville's skin crawled at the sound of his own voice cutting through the battle.

Both wizards stopped dueling and turned to the fake Neville Longbottom.

"Ah if it isn't Neville Longbottom," began Voldemort darkly. "It seems we have become slightly distracted wouldn't you say Althalos?"

"What is it you want, boy?" asked Althalos.

"Spare everyone else- it's me and Harry Potter that you want."

The evil wizards exchanged looks and laughed menacingly.

"_Is that all_?" asked Voldemort mockingly.

"It seems neither of you are as brilliant and threatening as you would like to believe..." began the fake Neville smugly. "Would you like to know why?"

The rest of the fighting had momentarily ceased as everyone watched the scene unfold.

"Do tell," prodded Voldemort unconvinced.

"Because while you two idiots were dueling...not only did Harry Potter make his grand escape but I also took back what is rightfully mine..." and with that the fake Neville reached into his robes and held out his hand, slowly lowering the key by it's chain.

Althalos and Voldemort's faces both fell but neither took any immediate action.

"Just hand over the key and we'll grant you your bargain..." began Althalos calmly.

"I think it'd be better to duel for it...don't you think that's fair?"

Before either dark wizard could respond they were loudly interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Leave the boy alone!"

Everyone turned to see Albus Dumbledore make his way through the crowd.

"Ah Albus...how wonderful of you to join our little gathering," began Voldemort.

"SERBIUM KILTATUM!"

A bright red light emitted from Voldemort's wand and was headed toward Dumbledore who blocked the spell and fired back.

Neville spotted Harry and ran to him but it was too late. He had already thrown himself into the crossfire.

"HARRY!" he screamed.

Everyone watched with horror as he was engulfed in a cloud of canary colored smoke, he spun around- dazed and confused.

Hermione ran toward him but Ron caught her and held on to her tight. Covering her eyes with his hand.

Neville pushed his way through the crowd and grabbed hold of Harry, just in time as the killing curse had been fired their way.

The fighting had commenced again and Neville was beginning to lose his will to fight. He had been through so much and was losing energy and faith.

"Harry! Oh my god you almost got yourself killed!"

Neville had one arm wrapped around Harry- who he had to hold up as he was still incoherent and detached from his surroundings- while he fired his wand with the other.

Neville searched the crowd for Ginny but she was nowhere in sight.

"MY LORD! I HAVE THE BOY! I'VE BROUGHT HIM TO YOU!"

Neville watched as Lucius Malfoy drug the fake Neville out to his lords by his hair. He looked as though he were in bad shape. It was weird to stare at himself. He had been so defenseless bloodied and beaten. He looked defeated- which is how he- _the real Neville_- felt.

"Thank you, Lucius," replied Voldemort admirably.

Lucius threw the boy down and kicked him hard in the ribs. He pulled out his wand and pushed it hard against his throat while his swiftly pulled out a knife and plunged it deep into his abdomen.

"NEVILLE!"

He watched as Ginny suddenly appeared, she ran toward Lucius so quickly and fired her bat bogey hex that he didn't know what hit him.

"GINNY NO!" shouted Neville as he drug Harry toward the front of the crowd to stop her from doing anything more drastic.

She gasped as he appeared with Harry as did many others.

"What is the meaning of this!" shouted Voldemort.

"It appears as though we have an imposter on our hands...but which one of you is the real Neville Longbottom...?" began Althalos.

"Particularly that isn't the issue at hand, Althalos...but rather which one has _the key_."

"I've brought Potter to you...isn't that enough?" barked Neville, as menacingly as he could muster. "I realize I have failed in many personal acquisitions set forth for me but I want to prove myself worthy right now...to _all of you_."

Voldemort and Althalos eyed him suspiciously, not quite sure what to make of the spectacle of two Neville Longbottoms.

Neville sneered back at them.

"If I've learned anything from any of you...it's how to manipulate and feed on the weaknesses of others...you can not have order without respect and you can not have respect without compliance and you can not have compliance without power..."

Now he was just pulling words out of his arse but he continued because it sounded convincing enough to him- plus it was buying him time.

He shifted his wand up and pressed it into Harry's temple.

"I've been brought into a world where inflicting fear upon those around you is the true way to gain any type of power, which is why I'm ready to help you gain what it is you seek."

Dumbledore's blue eyes bore into Neville and he glared back hatefully.

He turned to Ginny who stood horrified and confused as her eyes darted from the wounded, bloodied Neville in her arms to the one holding Harry Potter at wand point.

"When you come from the bottom and all it is you want is to be as respected and great as your saints...you can taste it and strive for it and will stop at nothing to get it. I want my name burned onto everyone's tongue- to be feared so no one will even dare say it aloud."

Suddenly, the imposter waved a bloodied hand in the air, the key dangling limply.

"Take it," he offered softly. "I have no need for this where I'm going..."

As Lucius bent down to collect the key, Neville and the imposter locked eyes and the imposter produced his wand from his robes and fired a curse straight into Lucius' face, he flew back into the wall of death eaters with the blast, easily taking a fourth of them down.

"KILL HIM!" shouted Voldemort.

The Neville imposter jumped up, clutching his wounded abdomen- blood slowly began to dribble from his mouth as he made his final move.

"SERIO DETRIMENTUM!" he bellowed.

A jet of black shot from the wand and began to spiral toward an unsuspecting Althalos, once it reached him it engulfed him entirely and began to wreak havoc upon his already deteriorated, hundreds of years old body that was a wonder could still even function.

Voldemort pointed his wand directly at the imposter, who was focused on attacking the death eaters coming at him.

Hermione saw what Voldemort was about to do, and like everyone else- not knowing which was the real Neville Longbottom began to panic.

"NEVILLE! LOOK OUT!" she shouted.

At this Augusta Longbottom, who had been missing in action for most of the battle, ran toward who she thought was Neville, who was about to meet his end.

"AVADA KADAVRA!"

But it was too late to stop the curse, a jet of bright, green light exploded from the tip of Voldemort's wand and was heading straight for her grandson, only it never hit him. The killing curse Voldemort had intended for Neville hit his gran instead as she shoved him out of the way just in time.

The real Neville watched in horror as the curse hit her square in the chest. Her eyes widened and her mouth formed the shape of an o and she fell back- _dead_. It had only taken a second and it was instantaneous. Augusta's body hit the ground with a resounding thud.

Neville released his hold on Harry and ran to her.

"GRAN!" he screamed.

Forgetting about the pain that scorched through his body and the battle that waged on he dove toward her and began cradling her, although she was cold to the touch and stiff as a board.

"OH MY GOD! GRAN! GET UP! GET UP!" He screamed.

But he knew she never would.

Neville, who was violently shaking from head to toe, allowed for tears to spill out of him as he examined her. She was staring up, her eyes and mouth wide open. The face of the woman who raised him was now as cold as ice and had gone white, as if she were made of marble.

Normally, he was so used to her features being twisted up with disappointment, either that or the woman rarely showed any emotion on her face at all. But as long as Neville lived he would never forget the look of fear etched onto her face as the killing curse took her very last breath. He looked into her eyes, the brown eyes that he knew so well were now foggy and grey and empty of life.

"Gran! I'm so s-sorry! That curse was m-meant for me!" He stuttered. "Why would you do that?!" Neville choked out in between sobs. "THINGS WERE STARTING TO GET BETTER! YOU HAD SO MUCH MORE OF YOUR LIFE TO LIVE! I NEED YOU!"

He felt someone place a firm hand on his shoulder, he looked up to find himself staring up at himself- only now his true identity was beginning to come through.

Slowly, as the polyjuice potion wore off his brown hair began to lighten until it was white blonde, his straight nose began to shrink and curve at the end his brown eyes turned to grey and his freckles faded away until he was finally staring at none other than Draco Malfoy.

Neville couldn't believe he hadn't put it together sooner. When he had last encountered Malfoy, he had grabbed him by his hair and pulled hard.

"My condolences," he replied, as he nodded to Neville's dead grandmother. "But I think you'll be needing this."

And with that Malfoy handed Neville the key.

Voldemort watched the scene unfold, with fury in his eyes. He had been foiled, humiliated, deceived but most importantly made a fool of. He glared at Malfoy.

"I should have known...I always knew you were no good to me, boy," he spat venomously. "You couldn't even accomplish the most simple task required of you...you bare my mark but you do not serve me. I've had first years with more potential and integrity than you hold in your pinky."

"That may be so," muttered Malfoy. "But who are you without your army? I'll tell you..._nothing_. Without them to protect you all you have is your wand...and everyone knows...an old man with a wand is nothing more than an old man with a wand- doesn't matter how good he is with it, it's who comes along to challenge him who's _better_."

Malfoy paused and sneered, scanning the wall of death eaters.

"In fact...I believe it was my father who taught me that...right Lucius? Wasn't it you who told me if I trained hard enough I could beat Voldemort here in a simple duel?"

Malfoy turned back to Voldemort and continued.

"And that he was nothing more than an old man with a wand..."

Voldemort's eyes began to scan over his legion of so called devoted death eaters.

"Why don't you come out and own up to what you have said about our lord, Lucius?" called Malfoy. "Unless you are too much of a coward to show your face."

Slowly but surely Lucius made his way to face Voldemort.

"So...is this how you see me, Lucius? After all I have given you?"

"My lord," began Lucius. "Please forgive me- I was in a moment of incomprehension. Nothing more than a moment of irrational misunderstanding."

"What a shame...I saw you as one of my most trusted..."

"My lord- I still am loyal to you-"

"Silence!"

Lucius glared at his son as Voldemort pointed his wand.

"AVADA-"

Lucius cowered and waited for death.

"Spare him."

Severus Snape walked up toward them and addressed his lord.

"We may need him..."

"Severus where have you been?"

"Searching for _Libro Timor._"

Without warning Voldemort flicked his wand toward both the elder and young Malfoy and a deep puncture wound was inflicted upon their abdomen. They both gasped as the air escaped their lungs.

Lucius took the attack with valor and little notion that he had experienced such a significant injury while the younger Malfoy- bloodied and weak and not as strong- collapsed to the ground, clutching his stomach.

"My lord...I do not see that as necessary," began Snape, eyeing Draco while ignoring Lucius. "The boy has been tortured enough."

"He betrayed me, Severus. I will do with him what I please."

Snape nodded and walked over to Althalos to help him up. The malevolent old wizard was reduced to even more of a mess by Malfoy's curse. What little was left of his skin barely covered up the brittle, worn bones holding him together. Yet no blood was visible near his wounds, which would explain his lack of color.

"I am not so easily defeated," he remarked coldly, pushing Snape aside.

Neville stood up, shrugged the backpack off his shoulders and pulled out the book. Without thinking twice he threw it to him, which he caught eagerly- his yellow eyes lit up.

"I think I'll take that with a grain of salt!" retorted Neville. "INFERNUS FERVESCIO URO DISSILO!"

The impact of the curse flew out of Neville's wand so quickly that he was thrown back at least ten feet. He watched as the curse hit the book and it- along with Althalos- exploded into a million pieces, completely incinerated in a burst of flames.

Voldemort turned his attention to Neville, his hateful expression faltered momentarily with shock.

"So what good is _this_ now?" asked Neville, holding up the key for all to see. "_Termino libero transporto ut!" _The key immediately vanished. Neville had transported it to the fiery pits of the Isle of Mors.

"Now what do you have to fight for?" asked Neville. "It's gone...just like the book! It's been destroyed! So now that you don't have a key to unlock all of our darkest fears what can you do? Because much like Malfoy said- now, you're just an old man with a wand and I'm not afraid of you!"

He could hear stifled gasps coming from behind him. His heart raced as he awaited whatever he had coming to him. This bastard killed his gran and he wasn't going down without a fight.

"It's me you want!"

Harry- appearing to have returned to his normal state- stepped forward, much to the protest of Hermione, and stood beside Neville.

Voldemort stepped over the motionless body of Draco Malfoy and advanced toward the boys of the infamous prophecy who proved to be his biggest threat and stood in the way of his plans.

"Harry Potter...and Neville Longbottom...how're mum and dad?"

Speaking of mum's and dad's, Neville couldn't help but wonder where his own had been.

"You're a coward," started Harry. "A spineless, pathetic excuse for a wizard."

"You'll regret those words boy- CRUCIO!"

Harry fell and began to writhe and scream in pain.

"BLASPHERO!"

Dumbledore cut in and stood in front of both boys.

"You'll have to get through me first...Tom."

Voldemort sneered and threw curse after curse, each attempt failing to even come close to his old nemesis. Neville fired a curse which was intercepted by Snape and thrown back at them.

This went on for what seemed to be ages.

Weakened by their duel Dumbledore's pace began to slow quite considerably and Voldemort was beginning to gain the upper hand.

Without missing a beat, Snape finally stepped in and fired his wand at Voldemort.

His red eyes burned into the greasy haired potions master whom he had trusted and mentored for years.

"Draco Malfoy isn't the only one who betrayed you."

Dumbledore's wand flew in the air and Voldemort caught it- he fired a curse at Snape

Harry used this moment to end it all- it may have been the only chance he'd get.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

He cursed aloud, he had missed.

"THEY'RE NOT ALONE!"

Neville turned to see Molly and Arthur Weasley, Nelie, Frances, Charlie, Ron, Hermione and Remus- all of them had looks of determination as they made a wall behind them- slowly but surely, others began to follow. Neville searched for his parents and they were still nowhere to be found. His stomach fell, Ginny wasn't in sight either.

Voldemort laughed cruelly.

"KILL THEM ALL!" he beckoned to his death eaters.

Curses were flying aimlessly now and Neville watched in horror as jets of green wiped out half of the bystanders that had joined in the fight. His nausea could not be contained as he happened to see many recognizable faces amongst those who had been hit with the killing curse. He quickly looked away.

"FIRE YOUR WANDS!" instructed Francis. "DO NOT STOP!"

And all at once everyone expelled their attacks, multitudes of colors shot up into the darkening sky and rained down upon Voldemort and his death eaters, shaking the ground as they collided with the earth- taking down death eaters left and right. Voldemort's face was illuminated by the array of spells that fell upon him and his army. He fired back but to no avail, all of their powers at once were much too great for him in his fragile state but still he refused to back down.

In one final push for redemption, Draco Malfoy pulled himself up.

"STUPEFY!"

Momentarily distracted, Voldemort pointed his wand and Malfoy was suddenly suspended in mid-air, at the dark lord's mercy.

"RELEASE THE BOY, TOM!" shouted Dumbledore.

"As you wish..."

An electric jet of velvet smoke slinked from his wand and began to wrap around Malfoy, until he was completely submerged in it. The boy fought but was already so weak.

"POTTER DO IT! NOW!" Malfoy managed to shout, before falling unconscious and plummeting to the ground with a sick and heavy thud.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Voldemort pulled out the silver shield spell and was instantly protected from Harry's attack.

Harry fired again only to have Voldemort disapparate.

"COME ON YOU COWARD! YOU'VE GOT ME RIGHT WHERE YOU WANT ME!" shouted Harry. "THIS ENDS TONIGHT!"

Voldemort apparated by what remained of the Astronomy tower and Neville broke away from the pack and ran toward Voldemort. He took his shot- and missed.

"LONGBOTTOM NO!"

Out of the corner of his eye he could see a black figure running toward him and hear the sound of a cape whipping against the air.

"LONGBOTTOM STOP!"

Neville ignored Snape's warnings.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" bellowed Voldemort.

The jet of green light flew so quickly toward him he barely had time to react. He dodged the curse and fired back.

"CRUCIO!"

He had been hit. Once again Neville felt his body being invaded by this sickening curse that had proved to be quite tragic for his entire family. He lost all control of his limbs and fell to the ground. His heart was pounding as his arms and legs began to bend and twist in all sorts of unnatural positions.

He screamed.

As soon as the pain had begun it quickly faltered. Ginny had fired her infamous bat bogey hex and now Voldemort began to fire at her.

"NOT MY BABY!" screamed Molly, but before she could act, Charlie held his mother back and began to pursue his little sister.

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

Voldemort's wand flew straight into Draco Malfoy's outstretched hand- he seemed to be past equipped with multiple lives as even the dark lord was shocked to witness that he still had not expired after all he had been through and based on how much blood he had lost.

"NOW! FOR FUCK'S SAKE SOMEONE KILL HIM!"

Neville's vision was blurry and his thoughts foggy but he knew he couldn't muck around.

"LONGBOTTOM DON'T!" screamed Snape- of all people.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

But it was too late, for the final time Neville fired off the killing curse- and this time more than previous attempts had he meant it most. The now familiar jet of green light flew from Neville's wand, hitting Voldemort right in the heart- he immediately fell dead.

It was over! It was all finally over- both Voldemort and Althalos were dead. He could finally be free of all of this burden.

But before Neville could rejoice, he turned toward the silent bystanders. He followed their gaze where Harry Potter- the boy who lived- now lay dead.

"Oh my god..." whispered Neville, as he ran over to the boy. "Wake up!"

He knelt down and began to shake him and gently slap his cheeks.

"HARRY!"

He looked up to see Hermione's brown eyes wide with devastation, both hands covering her mouth and Ron doing his best to hold her back.

"LONGBOTTOM! YOU DIDN'T LISTEN TO ME!" shouted Snape, his black eyes burning into Neville, as he stuck his index finger in his face.

"I-I- WHY? WHAT HAPPENED?"

"You killed him- that's what happened!"

Snape quickly fled back into the castle.

Some bystanders broke down into hysterical sobs while others began making rounds aiding survivors, while others began to collect the bodies of those who hadn't survived.

000000

How had it been possible? He had killed Harry Potter- but how?

Hours had passed and Neville was frozen in a catatonic state of disbelief. He hadn't left Harry's side and continued to replay what had happened over and over. How could anyone manage to look him in the eye? How could he ever be forgiven? He had murdered one of his closest friends.

"I-I'm so sorry, Harry..." he whispered. "I-I don't know what happened...I-I was trying to hit him...Voldemort. I don't understand...this isn't how it was supposed to happen!"

Suddenly he felt someone grab him under his elbow and pull him up. It was Ron.

"C'mon, mate...we need to get you checked out..."

Neville shook himself out of the red head's grip, shaking his head furiously.

"You're hurt pretty badly," continued Ron calmly.

"I'm fine- I'll manage."

"You need to get some help- there are healers here now taking care of those who are wounded."

"HOW CAN YOU STAND HERE SO FUCKING CALM? HOW CAN YOU ACT AS THOUGH YOU CARE ABOUT MY WELL-BEING? HARRY IS DEAD- I KILLED HIM!"

Ron watched him sadly.

"It isn't your fault. Harry knew it would come to this...he told us- he told us to prepare for the worst. But right now Harry wouldn't want us standing around blubbering over his dead body. He'd want us to help those who need it. We can all grieve later...right now we're alive. Yeah it hurts- it hurts real bad...but there's nothing we can do to change it."

Neville sighed and walked over to his gran's body- her expression still frozen with fear. He brushed his hand across her hard, cold cheek and kissed her once more.

"I'm sorry...thank you for giving your life for me," he began through tears. "I love you so much."

He stood up just as some healers approached and slowly covered her body with a blanket and loaded her onto a magical stretcher that one of them had conjured up. Neville watched as they wheeled her away, soon to join the other number of countless bodies that would need to be properly identified and preserved.

Neville was broken. He didn't even know where to begin picking up all of the pieces. This should have been a relief to know it was all over, but instead he felt himself sinking further into despair.

"Neville?"

Ginny wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled her head beneath his chin.

"Say something..." she continued, glancing up at him.

He shook his head in protest.

"You're a hero, Neville."

"No I'm not..."

"It's time for you to start healing...now that this is all over you need to work on recovering."

Neville gently pushed her away and stared hard at her.

"Recover from what? I will never recover from this..."

"I'm not just talking about this..." she replied. "You _know_ what I'm talking about. You're all out of excuses now...we need to get you some help."

"_You are unbelievable_," he began slowly, his voice shaking. "People are DEAD. Don't you understand that?! HARRY IS DEAD!"

"BUT YOU'RE NOT!" she shouted.

Neville felt as though a part of him had died along with all the others. He didn't feel fully alive.

"I need to be alone," he muttered.

Ginny began shaking her head sadly.

"Don't let this consume you...please? There are people here you can talk to...they can help you."

"Ginny...I'm sick and I'm tired and I don't have a lot left in me to..." he stopped.

"Neville, I love you..." she began with tears in her eyes. "I almost lost you today...and I refuse to lose you again."

He stared into her red, wet eyes and refused to acknowledge her pain- it was selfish and quite awful of him, but he had his own pain he needed to ignore.

"You need to walk away," he replied calmly. "Walk away and never look back."

He loved her, but he could not allow himself to pull her down in his wrath of self-destruction.

Before she could make a decision, he made one for her. He walked away until he was no longer on school grounds and he didn't stop nor did he look back.

000000

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the delay once again! Just been caught up in a crazy little thing called life- work, an almost 8 month old, etc...So there you have it! The physical battle is over but there is so much more poor Neville has to face. It is so close to the end- obviously the story will now shift to focus on the aftermath of the war and on Neville's continued struggles and recovery- as obviously depressed Neville with a side of angsty is my specialty!

Also, yes...Harry is *really* dead. :/

**"Oh no she di'nt!"**- well, yeah- I kinda did!

Please read and review! Share your thoughts- questions? comments? feedback?

Thank you all for following! Next up, **chapter 37**!


End file.
